I am a recent user of Ubuntu and am not convinced that ubiquitous sudo and no root logon is the way to go.
Ubuntu's sudo obsession and Vista's UAC are both noble-minded attempts to protect the user from his own stupidity, both of which run up against the same downfall: desensitization.
If the typical Vista user has to click on the UAC box too many times, sooner or later he'll just begin clicking on it any time it comes up, which defeats the entire purpose.
Likewise, if a typical Ubuntu user needs to do too many things with root privilege, and he is possessed of even a little Google-fu, he'll discover sudo -i, and thereafter will likely use it habitually, even when he doesn't need to.
These are examples of a convergent evolution: UNIX used to be a very high barrier to entry, and so it needed little droolproofing, but distros like Ubuntu have given Linux to the masses, and have had to make some compromises as a result. Windows started out as a toy shell on top of (what purported to be) an operating system, and has progressed to where it now completely owns and controls the hardware, with all of the attendant dangers. So both try to protect the naive user from himself, and both fail in different ways.
That's one of the reasons I have categorically avoided Ubuntu. I cut my teeth on SunOS 4.1 and HPUX 9, back when men were men and an injudicious use of the rm -rf * command
hurt. I learned, in those days, to be careful and conscious of my current level of user privilege, and as such I can now su with confidence and aplomb.
-BP
