idk about MX Linux but Linux Mint is Ubuntu without any Snap, with additional official apt repos, Flatpack support out of the box and, last but not least, its own house made desktop environment.

To me it’s as far from Ubuntu as Ubuntu is far from Debian.

Okay, but it's all just Linux. There's no real difference between any of them.

This is 90% true, but also the 10% matters in terms of "onboarding people to the desktop," which I think still is very important (and actually going reasonably well, IMHO)

Right, but that's all taken care of. Chromebooks outsell everything else, and Android phones outsell everything else, and Steam Decks haven't quite got there yet but it's early days.

Linux is 100% of one market segment, broadband routers. No matter how staunch a Windows zealot someone is, there's a bunch of stuff they depend on that cannot be done with Windows at all, not no-how.

And without the new Ubuntu crap, yes. That's the point.

Hm. And how long have you been using Linux, exactly?

Can't tell you "exactly" because it's been so long. Might have been as early as '99? Was definitely using Ubuntu as a desktop from its literal beginning. Why?

Okay, so relatively new then. Cool, no worries.

The "new Ubuntu crap" is actually pretty good. You should take a look at it.

How is that "new?"

Anyway, no, the new Ubuntu crap is mostly just that. This isn't a mere idea; I teach IT and every semester I require folks to use a Linux desktop. Mint, MX, Lubuntu and Ubuntu, the occasional Arch are all in testing rotation; over the past few years Ubuntu/Gnome give me the most trouble -- they just suck at backwards compatibility.