Not unlike other Linux distributions, Ubuntu has the root account disabled by default and requires you to use 'sudo' in a terminal session to execute commands that normally require root level or elevated privileges. There are several different schools of thought here and I can clearly see both sides, so I'm not a good person to debate with on this. What I will do is give you the knowledge to decide for yourself which school you want to attend. :)

Its sad to see that the fedora distro has followed ubuntu in disabling the root login.  I'm sure that some idiot has passed himself off as a security expert by comming up with the idea.  If your the kind of admin who babysits an email server and plays freecell all day, then you probably should not log in as root .... ever ....  For those of us who actually work in system administration and 90% of everything we do requires root access, logging in as root is a necessary evil. 

This is a quick reference for setting up public keys in ssh so you don't have to constantly type your password in front of prying eyes and hungry keyloggers.