[doubled112]

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?