I like to use this website when I want an alternative to what I’m using: https://alternativeto.net/software/github/
I think it’s absurd putting free software against tech giants in the same field. One is for profit and can pay to innovate, the other consist of volunteers doing it (mostly) for free. It’s not like FOSS applications don’t want to innovate, it’s just that they can’t for the most part.
It’s equally absurd to demand things like “you should do research and development”, like who are you talking to in particular? The FOSS community is not an organization.
Having a separate partition is a good idea and funny enough it can help you in this issue. If you try to reinstall the system, you can format the other partitions and leave /home untouched, so you will have a fresh system but keeping all your personal data as it is; that’s the main benefit of having multiple partitions.
Next time, you should just make /var bigger according to your own experience. Other people only have 2 partitions: / as a 20-40 GB one (or bigger, this is according your needs) and the rest of your HDD/SDD for /home. Another tip is that when you’re re-installing the system, use a new nickname, otherwise the new system will try to use all the old config files in your old account, and finally, if there’s very important stuff in /home, definitely make an outside backup, there’s always the chance of misreading something or ticking the wrong box.
I have used all of those as daily drivers for a few months, they’re all great. But distros like Ubuntu or Elementary feel a bit constrained, and good old Debian gives you enough tinkering room.