I agree with you.
Since CentOS 8 was abandoned by Red Hat. I’ve slowly moved many CentOS 7 and CentOS 8 servers to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and 22.04 LTS. For some of the very same reasons you gave.
I didn’t opt for CentOS Stream or Rocky Linux, etc., because in my opinion there are too many formative unknowns for long-term production projects. That’s arguable I’m sure. But I’ve had to upgrade servers from Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04 recently, and other than Debian and RHEL, there aren’t many straight-upgrade server distros to choose from.
Linux server distros in the future
In the next 5 to 10 years, there could be acquisitions of many of these CentOS 7/8 alternatives. When we set up servers, we often expect them to be online 10 or 20 years from now. So for me, Ubuntu is currently the most value-flexible long-term choice.
Also, I prefer Ubuntu because Canonical offers Ubuntu Advantage, which allows you to choose the level of enterprise features and support you would like.
Red Hat has recently done similar by offering free entrance enterprise for up to # of servers, but what was the motive? Also, again in 10 years, will it change? I welcome their input.
After many years of running other distros, I’ve ended up primarily on Ubuntu. Canonical isn’t the greatest, there are many gripes, but overall, (again in my opinion) their approach to enterprise has been early to allow users to transition from free to paid more gradually, and à la carte.
I can write more freely about this stuff here in this setting because it’s opinionated, and as such, it’s easier to keep me honest in the forums than say on the blog. For example, if I write somewhat negatively about Red Hat or Rocky Linux, it’s just my one article headline and content that’s out there. That’s not responsible and there are many who will give valid reasons for them (and for others) which Rocky Linux and others would be better alternatives than Ubuntu/Canonical.
It’s great to read @KCT post and any others who add to the discussion because it allows readers and forum members - including myself - to gain a more holistic view of the Linux server distros space.