I think that the most charitable answer is that Ubuntu changed it's basic premise, and some people don't like the newer approach.
Back when Ubuntu started, it was explicitly a variation of Debian with a GNOME desktop, plus some custom parts to make a "Linux for Human Beings", such as an easy-to-use installation process. Mark Shuttleworth had been a Debian developer, Canonical hired it's technical people from Debian contributors, and everybody was sensitive to the need for Ubuntu to work with the upstream projects (and vice versa).
Linux is a complicated system of components, and desktops are far more complex than servers, so it's essential for developers with different employers to cooperate to get things done. Important decisions require developers from multiple organizations to reach a consensus. It can be a slow and frustrating process, and it's easy for awkward people to cause a lot of hassle for everyone else.
In practice, Canonical always struggled to work well with others, and eventually they switched to developing their own convergence stack (to span desktops, smart TVs and mobile) that happens to use Linux components but shares increasing less common ground with the rest of the community: using their own graphics systems, desktop environment, and their own software packaging systems. In other words, Ubuntu has been morphing from community-friendly Debian variant to an Android-style single-vendor system.
Google can do this with Android and not take the same level of flak because Android has always been a commercial product that happens to have FOSS components, and they seem to cooperate reasonably well with the rest of the community in areas of shared interest.
(All IMO).
Back when Ubuntu started, it was explicitly a variation of Debian with a GNOME desktop, plus some custom parts to make a "Linux for Human Beings", such as an easy-to-use installation process. Mark Shuttleworth had been a Debian developer, Canonical hired it's technical people from Debian contributors, and everybody was sensitive to the need for Ubuntu to work with the upstream projects (and vice versa).
Linux is a complicated system of components, and desktops are far more complex than servers, so it's essential for developers with different employers to cooperate to get things done. Important decisions require developers from multiple organizations to reach a consensus. It can be a slow and frustrating process, and it's easy for awkward people to cause a lot of hassle for everyone else.
In practice, Canonical always struggled to work well with others, and eventually they switched to developing their own convergence stack (to span desktops, smart TVs and mobile) that happens to use Linux components but shares increasing less common ground with the rest of the community: using their own graphics systems, desktop environment, and their own software packaging systems. In other words, Ubuntu has been morphing from community-friendly Debian variant to an Android-style single-vendor system.
Google can do this with Android and not take the same level of flak because Android has always been a commercial product that happens to have FOSS components, and they seem to cooperate reasonably well with the rest of the community in areas of shared interest.
(All IMO).