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Why do Android screenshot utilities only work on rooted devices? Linux distributions and desktop environments provide user-space screen capture tools. Why can't Android? I wonder what are the technical issues, if any, that prevent this.

Installing about 1 GB worth of development tools on a PC, hooking it to an Android device via USB, and disabling some of its funzionality (e.g. SD card access) is not a user-friendly way of getting a screenshot.

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As suggested by Chank I posted a query to the Android Developers discussion group and got a reply.

Because /dev/graphics/fb0 is only readable by root and graphics group for security reasons, you may read other apps screens otherwise.

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Although the Screenshot app requires root, you don't need dev tools or being hooked up to PC via USB to use it.

As for the "why" - you should ask Android developers this question here.

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