There is a Ubuntu-Gnome spin. I like Gnome better than unity. yes, KDE is hugely popular in Europe while Gnome seems to be interesting for many other countries.
Wow Skaendon, do you usually post old news? After 12.04, Ubuntu added spyware features to Ubuntu using Amazon as it's source of revenue. The spyware is on by default but it can be turned off. Please provide a link of how Canonical "works directly with Microsoft", because this is the first time I've heard about it. Why are you surprised that Conical is trying to subsidize itself through targeted advertisements when they have bills to pay like everyone else? Is it really so laughable, or are you just ignorant?
I have no problem with a company making money with a Linux distro that they created. The traditional way to make money in the Linux community (RedHat, Caldera and very few others excluded) is offering support, creating fixes or code for a certain distro, or just Linux in general. I have a problem with them making money from collecting info (possibly personal) in a sketchy way and then selling it to other companies. For me, once you wear the brand of practicing sketchy methods of doing business, it is hard for me to forget something like that and it takes a hell of a lot to get any kind of trust back in them.