That's what I'm saying though, what is novel about this? So novel that it made sense to make a new distribution for it?

I actually use it on my laptop I'm typing on. I installed it because it was basically ubuntu and I didn't feel like configuring themes at that time, and I didn't really care.

However, I have long decided I should just install Ubuntu since there is no point at having another actor I need to trust in the chain, even though I need to install so many things from source anyways just because ubuntu repositories are not always bleeding edge enough for me. Problem is, I was so causal on my install that I did not notice the default Ubuntu install does not separate out /home partition, so I need to copy all my date to an external disk to upgrade ... You get the picture.

There is nothing here other than something somebody who either did not care enough or did not know enough would be decide to use and add the risk of another upstream source they aren't vetting, and actually they lock some things out and you need to use alternate repositories to install them. Most repositories are just Ubuntu repositories otherwise. They do not use their own other than for a few things. But they sell a pro version, so their own motivation is simple - to be a small business.