Can one receive (fractions of) ETH by simply running Mist?

Question

This document about Ethereum briefly explains how decentralized Apps work:

To connect to the network, [people] installed a special program called Mist. (...) Every participating computer receives a reward for their work, because they paid for hardware, electricity and shared their processing power. [They get] a digital asset called ETHER.

Is it true, and is that what is called mining? (I might be wrong but I believe mining is actually more complicated than installing Mist and helping dApps run.)

Also, I installed Mist and would happily share resources to make decentralized Apps work, as explained in the aforementioned document, but I don't see any ETH coming to my wallet... How does it work, did I misunderstand something?

Answer 1

The one word answer is NO.

You can not just run Mist and gain ethers, In this is you are just a node in ethereum. Miners get the reward for the work they do to run the system (or solving proof-of-work puzzle).

You can get a brief of How to mine ether here.

Answer 2

This document seems very outdated to me.

You don't necessarily need Mist to use a DApp. For example, you could also use the MetaMask Chrome plugin or Parity. MetaMask is probably the most user-friendly option because it's very fast to install and start using, and it plugs right into your browser.

The vast majority of Ethereum users are actually not miners. Mining is a very competitive business. By default, you are NOT a miner. For most people, the investment in electricity and computer hardware would exceed the value of the ETH you get.

It's best just to leave mining to the professional miners.

Answer 3

Although running a node is monitized on some altcoins, on ethereum you do not get any rewards for running a wallet/node. When you are running mist you are running a client on top of the blockchain that allows you to interact with the EVM. Mining is the act of hashing transactions which is considered work for the network so they get paid for their work. Your computer is only analyzing the blockchain, not hashing transactions and submitting them to see if they are the right answer to the puzzle.