> That is a huge security benefit and pretty standard across desktop OS these days.

But is it really though? That's the parent was alluding to.

I have the same feelings - all my important data are readable/writeable as my user, if I somehow manages to run a malicious program as my normal user it's game over as far as I'm concerned, having root would cause no extra damage.

Root access can be more insidious, like adding a crypto miner in the background or some other kind of virus masquerading as a system process. Your data would still be there, just silently being exfiltrated, along with your keystrokes/passwords.