I agree that the software is not great. But your reasons seem just wrong.

1. You can get debs if you want. They are not hidden. If you have trouble finding them, I'm sure we can help. I agree the package manager GUI could be better. If you sen it in red pill mode, you case get weird results.

2. The one touch install DOES get the deb file and download it. You don't see a deb, but it is there. You can set apt so it will cache the deb files, you can let them fill up your disk if you want.