I've noticed that I don't care any longer so much about which distributions are available, but more about the preferred packaging system of the distribution + h

I've noticed that I don't care any longer so much about which distributions are available, but more about the preferred packaging system of the distribution + how up-to-date their repositories are. With many programming languages having their preferred tool for circumventing a distro's packaging system, that too has impacted the importance of a distro's packaging systems a bit. Still, I think it's excessive to say that "distributions" are becoming irrelevant. There's plenty of opportunity for distros to compete to provide a good out-of-the-box setup, fine-tuning tools, or dumbified interface.