If Mint advertised, &quot;Free to download, but also free of good security practices&quot;, then I could buy this argument.<p>The problem is that Mint <i>allows users to trust it</i>. It would be better if they didn&#x27;t work on the distro at all if they&#x27;re not going to take security seriously.<p>People on HN become furious about antivirus programs and routers and whatever else that are discovered to be laughably insecure. An OS is no less of security product than A&#x2F;V or a router. In fact, it&#x27;s the first line of defense for an end user.