I administer a small number of systems and deploy custom packages to all of those. Running a custom mirror, signing packages, managing keyrings on the mirror,

I administer a small number of systems and deploy custom packages to all of those. Running a custom mirror, signing packages, managing keyrings on the mirror, and getting them on all systems is nontrivially harder than using a PPA and associated scripts. Now, I run a mix of Ubuntu and Debian systems. I don't use PPAs that much, but when I do they're just plain easier. Yes, it's an incremental gain, but that's a gain. It makes them better. They weren't first, but they're innovating. Sometimes, the "innovations" aren't fantastic especially some of the more harebrained stuff on desktop (PulseAudio, avahi). But no longer is Ubuntu just a Debian rip-off: They're producing new and useful additions. The relative merits are debatable, and so I'm not going to continue that thread. In the end, it boils down to X + epsilon > X, for any epsilon > 0.