>>> >>      People have always expected rm -rf / to destroy the OS. They
>>> >>also know that, from the keyboard, with root priviledge, they can
>>> >>destroy the partition table of the disk. All this is repairable by
>>> >>the admin her/himself.

>>> >>      The ability to brick the motherboard is brand new.

     Sure Rainer, admins with a little of experience know that. This was 
just a partial enumeration of simple actions able to destroy an 
installed OS.

     You are right to insist on the  BIG difference between these two 
actions and the fact that rm -rf is much more destructive than 
reformatting /. However, the main danger of rm -rf, up to now, was 
typically its potential to wipe out /home. None of the pseudofilesystem 
represented a danger. Experienced people running this command would just 
unmount any filesystem they would like to preserve and would never have 
thought of this new, well hidden, danger.

     Didier