Regardless of the reason, the end result is still the same, which is that new users are left with the idea that terminal is essential for using Linux.
You can say that you set up a distro without using terminal all you want, but as long as new users don’t know how to do that, my point still stands. Frankly, the fact that you even thought to bring up that point feels like, to me, extra proof that experienced users are highly dismissive of the new user experience.
“is” is correct here, due to the implied nouns. “Data” in this case is an appositive and serves to describe the implied noun, “word.” And “plural” is an implied noun for “plural word”
You can see it most clearly if you fill in the implied nouns: