Whenever I create a new project the first thing I do is pretty much have to go to Package Manager and remove all of them.
Not only those default packages makes you take longer to create an empty new project (and I usually do this to test something, which means I will not need all those default packages), but also means that I have to spend more time removing them.
The only packages I actually use on 100% of my projects are textmeshpro and the package manager itself. And I don’t think even TMP should be added by default.
We’re aware that the current offering for templates is fairly limited, and not necessarily well adapted to everyone’s requirements. Defining new ways to create projects better tailored to your needs on the roadmap (e.g. more/smaller templates, custom user templates, etc.) This will be part of a future Unity Hub offering.
As for injecting new dependencies into projects during upgrades, this was meant as a way to prevent breaking existing projects when they upgraded from an older Unity version which natively provided APIs now available in those packages only. Again, we’re looking into improving this to minimize the negative impact of upgrading, and avoiding adding packages unnecessarily.