But you can keep compatibility with Ubuntu if you want by using the same code but keeping control,

Honestly tell me if this does not sound idiotic "Microsoft is evil and we don't trust them, please run our own Windows copy that is the exact same thing but with different colors, MS can push an update and delete all your files because this is not a supported configuration and we have no scripts to check for it but we are not competent enough to setup our own repos and scripts like other distress"

I understand why Mint does what it does, the only idiotic part is complaining about trust in Canonical.