When it comes to computing, especially operating systems, the trend seems to reducing the amount of control the end users have over their operating system environments [stares hard at garden gnomes]. Of course with any Linux based system you can always pop the hood to access the internals however, some distributions, along with proprietary operating systems, seem intent on making it harder and harder.
Things just don’t stop there either. Developers for these platforms are having to face hoops and hurdles to be able to have their patches and programs accepted as part of the ‘inner circle’ so to speak.