This solidifies the idea for me that Canonical is completely clueless. Asking for donations AND bundling Amazon shopping ads? That's over the line IMHO. Yes

This solidifies the idea for me that Canonical is completely clueless. Asking for donations AND bundling Amazon shopping ads? That's over the line IMHO. Yes, you can disable the Amazon stuff, but leaving it as a default is a poor choice. At best it's incredibly tacky and unhelpful, at worst it's a security risk. To me the answer is glaringly clear. Offer a donation based download with the Amazon stuff not bundled with it. This makes people feel like they're getting a clean product, and many people don't mind paying to support the OS. Then offer a free download with the Amazon bundled, and let people know that's what they're getting. People can still disable it, but for those that don't Canonical profits. This hybrid mess of "pay us some money" and "don't forget to turn off our advertising" is the worst of both worlds.