When starting GNOME desktop applications why do applications such as Nautilus or evolution give an error message about "GConf locking error" when using nfs mounted home directory?

GNOME applications such as Nautilus, will not start and give an error message about GConf locking error when using NFS mounted home directory.

GConf is used by GNOME for managing user preferences. GConf runs under a single instance mode to ensure that the user's preferences are not clobbered. For this a lock file is used, stored locally under user's home directory.

I...