Hoover-like capabilities of Linux Mint are news to me.
But you absolutely miss the point of what makes Linux Mint popular. It's for people who use computer to do (other) things.
I am absolutely fine with not having the new and shiny of everything.
I really like it that every apt package just works and installs fine and there aren't clashes between a package needing the newest library and another not working with that newest library etc.
I really like it that Linux Mint hasn't changed the location of Start button for lolz.

I used to run Gentoo back in the day and even supported a Gentoo install. Waiting for compiling packages gets old really fast. The better performance of fine-tuning? I wouldn't be able to measure it. Also the global waste of everyone recompiling every mundane package. It's good that in 2024 they finally started providing precompiled packages.

I also use headless Debian on servers, but I still don't trust Gnome to not revamp their UI again.
I still don't like Gnome and I wouldn't trust them to not make a next huge UI change.

So many words in this thread and you still haven't stated any actual reasons for why would you think Mint isn't good. "Mine is better" isn't really informative.

So who exactly would be interested in establishing such a company with all the cost, risk and no benefits?

I have been using Linux Mint on almost all the Linux boxes I have except for Debian on headless servers. Reasons:
1) Mint doesn't change things for no reason, especially UI (unlike Ubuntu used to do)
2) it is compatible with Debian and Ubuntu
3) all the defaults make sense
4) snaps are off by default

This reflects my experience as well. It really lowers the bar of entry for much of technical work. It suits well when the cost of trying it out is nothing.
It can help learning a lot if it does not replace thinking. It can be an extremely kind and patient tutor, useful even if it is sometimes wrong.

Current AI prices are all deceiving, since AI hasn't entered the shareholder value maximising phase, quite the opposite. It won't be exactly cheap when the enshittification starts. It will still be cheaper than real developers.

Ad hominem.

I don't think AI predictions on horse racing is something an average slashdot reader is interested in. This is as yellow and useless as "tech news" can get.

For better security, to make sure no certificate can ever be used maliciously, one could go one step further and invalidate the certificate right away.

Maybe this will be one of the options which will accidentally turn on every other update.

Read in Morgan Freeman voice: "It did not improve the drug safety..."

And all their app has is the very same AI chatbot.

Check your math. This is 25% payrise.

You also visited hospital.com/cancer and found out later that day, that your health insurance rate doubled. And the internet started showing you all kinds of chemotherapy ads and homeopathic remedy ads instead of the usual single ladies in your area.

The very same arrogant know-it-all developers sometimes also write the closed source version of the software.
Some people with medical issues can also program. I am pretty sure that I'd at least try to understand the code for medical devices, if available.