I've always appreciated that should I choose to I can "vote" with my system to show the packages that are important to me with a hope that it would help Ubuntu, and others, to focus resources.
popcon-largest-unused is a useful tool whether I've uploaded their data or not.
The packages I have installed hardly seems worthy of keeping secret, the opposite in fact.
Years ago(I started around 2008 or 2009 I think), Ubuntu was different because it Just Worked. It came with lots of drivers, easy defaults, and guis for everything. You could easily dual-boot it with Windows(there was a windows executable that would get it done without burning a CD or dealing with an iso), and could be installed on just about any computer at the time.
Nowadays, lots of distros are just as easy(Debian, fedora, Linux mint), come with all drivers, work on basically all systems, and don't spy on you. Ubuntu isn't as easy to dual-boot windows now too. There's basically no advantage to Ubuntu now except community.
> There's basically no advantage to Ubuntu now except community.
Ding Ding Ding. This is why I still recommend Ubuntu, there's a community and a wealth of knowledge out there for working with Ubuntu.
Though if you are more experienced and deal with nuanced issues you will find often the community is outdated and this is a double edged sword -- a lot of material out there is for older Ubuntu distros and is no longer relevant.
> There's basically no advantage to Ubuntu now except community.
That's the best and worst reason to reccomend ubuntu. The best because it's community is large and somewhat stable. The worst because that community is under the thumb of a corporation that does not seem to understand it.