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by czx4f4bd 1209 days ago
What does that even mean? Is Ubuntu just Debian with another repo on top? Either way, it doesn't change the fact that Pop ships with different functionality and is controlled by a different company that has made a lot fewer user-hostile choices than Canonical in recent years.
2 comments

Yes and no.

Ubuntu tends to fork Debian's unstable branch then freeze it, patch it, rebuild it and call it their own. Pop_OS! is simply adding some software on top of Ubuntu.

If Debian makes a change, Ubuntu is unaffected until they resync. They then have time to patch it and test. If Ubuntu changes a package, that change is immediate in Pop_OS! unless they ship their own version of the package.

I agree that Pop_OS! is doing a great job with their DE modifications and other defaults, but I don't view that as them being in control. Unless a lot has changed since I used it last, Ubuntu and their infrastructure is still building most of the distribution.

A lot of this is really where you want to draw lines in the sand. What makes a distro a distro and not just another derivative?

Unlike Ubuntu, Pop doesn't really have full control over their users' experience, because their users are configured to consume directly from Ubuntu's repositories.