Ignore that *nix distros have had package management for a long time. Those platforms are too niche to draw conclusions from.

I used to fix computers as a side hustle from ~2000-~2006. There was a lot of shit software on the market, no one knew what was good, and the public really was "too dumb to save themselves." Back then, just look at antivirus software. These days, look at VPN snake oil. What's different now is apps are more sandboxed, but new apps are just a few taps away.