Huh, I haven't run an Ubuntu desktop in several years but I don't remember that being the case (i.e both locked the software down pretty tight). I found Debian Backports to be helpful for the few things an admin might want to go out of phase on for servers. Though to reiterate, I think the desktop class of user would be better served by a stabilized rolling release like -testing in this decade where things generally work better and LTS works against you.