Luke Smith
Now, me saying that might sound like a Zen koan.
Just a couple of years ago, Arch Linux was one of the most difficult distros to install yet fairly easy to use once installed. Now, it's one of the easiest to install and use once installed. Thanks, Archinstall!
Now I am not Luke Smith; I hate minimalist window manager environments, and I would rather use all of systemd than some barebones init with other crappy and outdated software. I'm not using Vim to type this, but instead I'm using Xed. Instead of dwm, I'm using Cinnamon. Instead of Brave (which is bloat, lowkey spyware by default, and too retarded to theme properly with the rest of my desktop), I use Ungoogled Chromium - despite its own issues.
But enough on what I use for software. My OS of choice is Arch, for a few reasons.
First of all, editing Arch-specific config files to suit your needs is extremely easy. Open up /etc/pacman.conf and see for yourself.
Second of all, you don't have to learn a shit ton of word commands to manage your programs, but instead you can use (sudo) pacman -Syu to update anything you need to update. Uninstall? pacman -Rns [package name]. Clear cache? pacman -Scc. Find packages you don't need? pacman -Qtdq. Just want to install something? pacman -S [package name].
Third of all, Archinstall. Other than a few post-configuration things you need to do (article on that later), Archinstall will do most of the work for you. Just follow the instructions. If unsure, select the defaults for most things. My recommendations: Choose Pipewire over PulseAudio (you still get PulseAudio support), use NetworkManager for your internet, go with best fit partitioning, and pick Cinnamon for your desktop environment.
Fourth and finally, the AUR. Throw those Flatpaks, Appimages, and Snaps in the trash; you don't need them. Chances of the AUR having all the packages you actually need? 99%. There's...a few Bible apps that are only on Flatpak, but AFAIK they're complete trash (not that most Bible apps that ARE on the AUR are much better). Outside of that though, you won't run into issues finding software. Need an AUR helper? Both Yay and Paru are pretty decent.
"But I like Ubuntu!" Good to hear that you like bloat upon more bloat with spyware as your default browser. "What about Artix like Luke Smith?" Tried it, great distro, but systemd is unironically easier and faster once configured. "What about Linux Mint if you like Cinnamon so much?" Not nearly as configurable, and not as easy to deal with. "What about Win-" Really? Anyone with a brain cell knows not to use Windows. "What about MacOS?" I'm not made of money, and Apple kind of sucks anyways. If I wanted an OS similar to theirs I'd use GNOME or Pantheon as my desktop environment. Call me a filthy elitist, but just use Arch.