That's an interesting point. I don't think I would agree that Ubuntu Touch is at a dead end but I think you're right that you won't be able to change everything you want via ssh. You will have to use the GUI for some things.

FWIW I think the variety of available operating systems can only be a good thing. There's more going on to attract contributors and presuumably work done on things like drivers can carry over to other OSs.