newbie: what is the plugins author dropdown list for?

[lama]

when i install a plugin, its permission shows "all authors".
i read all the tutorials, but i did not found an explanation, what this "permissions" really are.
Only thing i found is

You'll notice a number of options for each istalled plugin, ..., a permissions drop down, ...

No furthe rexplanation what this option does.
what happens, when i switch the permissions of an event-plugin to a specific author?
what happens, when i do this to sidebar plugins?
i thought plugin permissions could be assigned at the "group administration" page, and i dont know what this "permission" tab is about.
please throw some light on this:-)

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

The dropdown only indicates who is the owner of a plugin. Only the owner (or superusers) are then able to change the configuration of such a plugin.

HTH,
Garvin

[lama]

wow thats nice, i missed that in wordpress mu, where you can only choose if a plugin is allowed for an author, but not restrict the access to the configuration pages.

but this should be defaulted to the admin only then, and not to all authors, dont you think?