Defaults matter a lot, and snaps are the default in Ubuntu.

The topic is not whether snaps are avoidable or not, but the Ubuntu is going downhill. And snaps are purported to be part of that downhill, which would be Ubuntu's NIH syndrome. As far as I know, Ubuntu's only successful development is Ubuntu itself - the other projects have all failed over the years, and snap, while ongoing, is not winning any popularity contests either.

You're right. You don't have to use snaps. Ubuntu migrates packages slowly in behalf of you.

Using apt to install some packages installs snap plumbing and downloads the package as a snap automatically. You don't have to install it manually.

There's no malicious intent though, it's made to "impose a positive pressure on the snap team to produce better work and keep their quality high" (paraphrased, but this was the official answer).

You really have to work to avoid them; ex. `apt install firefox` will install the snap

You sort of do. It's really hard to avoid them, because they've modified "apt" to install snaps by default without asking.

I'm with my neighbor comments. How do you use Ubuntu without snaps? The base Ubuntu install already comes with several snaps. Installing random things through apt leads to snaps. I personally do not know how to avoid snaps on Ubuntu.

Yes you do. Some packages aren't available anymore in apt

If you use Ubuntu, yes you do. It’s why I ditched Ubuntu