> I would hope that a default [OS] desktop installation would be secure enough to set up without a firewall.
The OS you have in mind is called OpenBSD, which has had two remote holes in the default installation in about 3 decades; and if you don't need to run Linux-only applications, it actually is a pretty decent desktop.
I don't blame Linux distributions however - both Windows and macOS are way worse. We've been living through a crisis of complexity, everyone is keen to call out Electron apps but we keep on installing and using them. As long as we accept this complexity, things will keep getting worse.
The OS you have in mind is called OpenBSD, which has had two remote holes in the default installation in about 3 decades; and if you don't need to run Linux-only applications, it actually is a pretty decent desktop.
I don't blame Linux distributions however - both Windows and macOS are way worse. We've been living through a crisis of complexity, everyone is keen to call out Electron apps but we keep on installing and using them. As long as we accept this complexity, things will keep getting worse.