If I understand the discussion, it was a decision in an
early stage of Fedora 21 Desktop development that it should
not have a User Interface for firewall configuration. And I
think this is the basic problem and mistake. I cannot see how
usability and security can be achieved at the same time
without it Even though it is not a server platform, you may
still want to run server programs on it (typicaly for access
by other systems on local network). I can think of (at
least):
* a test or learning instance of any database server
* all sorts of file servers
* media streaming services
.. and they will all require the port where the server
listens to be open.
I think a very simple User Interface for firewall
configuration should be added. It could be as simple as just
allowing for opening of specific ports. I also don't think it
will cause problems. People can manage firewall(s) in
Windows. Dont' assume that users are more helpless than they
are (that is/was Ubuntu's mistake IMO).
(and as a final remark the security issue is close to NULL
for al the people running FD21 in a virtualized environment or
behind a router. They will have the protection from the host
OS or the router. But some people still use various types of
modems and not routers of course)
-- Peter