The goals each one is trying to achieve.

Arch is build it yourself. You are presented with a CLI (command-line interface) installer, and *you* decide what do you want to have on your system.

Another thing Arch is trying to achieve is the principal of KISS, keep it simple. The software should do what is was meant to do, and that’s it.

Ubuntu’s ‘goal’ is to give the user experience of ‘it just works’.

Pros to Arch - you know exactly what you have on your system, and you have more control.

Cons to Arch - *you* are in cotrol, so you need to be careful not mess things up (if something happened, it’s the user fault).

Pros to Ubuntu - you have a lot of software installed, and you don’t need to set up a lot. So it’s very easy for new users.

Cons to Ubuntu - you have a lot of software installed. Some of them you might not use, at all (some would say it’s a bloatware).