well, as a user, there's no real way for you to know that aptitude purge completely removes everything, you have to trust that it works. Sure, as a power-user or developer, you can go look around /etc or /usr/share or wherever and remove all those configuration and documentation files, but will you?
I used debian for about a year, I trusted that aptitude purge removed as much as it could. I knew that trust was misplaced, but for my purposes as a user, it was good enough.
Similarly, for iOS devices, I don't know how well it removes config files and whatnot. I simply trust that it removes everything. I have slightly more trust in iApp config files being removed because these apps are sandboxed, and it's a relatively simple matter of removing the directory the app fills.
I hear what you're saying, but I think you misunderstood me.
I wasn't trying to distinguish regular users from power users. I was trying to distinguish all users (however knowledgeable) from specially licensed developers. I was trying to make about about the openness and freedom of Debian as a platform versus the locked-down nature of iOS.
Also, I disagree about your trust: it wasn't misplaced.
I used debian for about a year, I trusted that aptitude purge removed as much as it could. I knew that trust was misplaced, but for my purposes as a user, it was good enough.
Similarly, for iOS devices, I don't know how well it removes config files and whatnot. I simply trust that it removes everything. I have slightly more trust in iApp config files being removed because these apps are sandboxed, and it's a relatively simple matter of removing the directory the app fills.