It really depends on the context / configuration (or at least should depend on). Imagine a host available to public at a library. Considering that people can come there to print out some sensitive documents, you don't want to allow normal users to change printer settings. Someone could remove the default one and set up a tunnel through his own host, capturing all documents on the wire before they hit the printer. Very similar situation exists for the WiFi networks.
Of course this doesn't make any sense on a laptop. But it doesn't look like there's any sane default. You need to choose your configuration properly and that's it. If OpenSUSE doesn't allow it, then yes... that's a bug.
I disagree. Defaults should be prioritized; they should optimize for the majority of the users, not the minority, and for the casual home user, not big organizations (like libraries), since they're more likely to have professionals configuring the system.
In cases like this, couldn't the library administrator just remove the rights for all their machines? Create a user account with less privileges than a normal user and let patrons use that.
Of course this doesn't make any sense on a laptop. But it doesn't look like there's any sane default. You need to choose your configuration properly and that's it. If OpenSUSE doesn't allow it, then yes... that's a bug.