[Namikaze]

Can you show me where it states that devices can place marks, or invite marks?

I can do better than that.  I can wish you a Merry Christmas and go enjoy my time off.  Fact is, I interpret the rules slightly differently.  Arguing the semantics is a little silly honestly.  Eventually it boils down to a difference of opinion, and results in something along the lines of a schism similar to that which occurred between the various sects of <insert religion here>.

As to your real world example of using Debian, you are correct.  Debian is also 20 years old, and despite being consistently updated it still has some quirks.  Every OS has quirks.  When I log in to my Windows Server administration account, I don't have to provide credentials again because the system remembers who I am and uses my credentials.  I bring that up as an example of what I suspect administering networks would be like in Shadowrun simply because it's easy.  Obviously Windows and Debian don't exist in Shadowrun - presumably at some point developers learned how to make things even easier than how things are now.

Regardless, have a Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate.

[Nobody]

If we're discounting the use of Resonance, then no device may take any Matrix Action that requires marks. The rules clearly state that only personas may create a mark. Invite Marks requires Owner level permissions (essentially 4 marks). Under normal circumstances, only a device's owner's persona may use Invite Marks with that device as a subject. Even if the owner were to invite the device to mark itself it would be unable to do so because, not being a persona, it has no ability to accept the invitation.