Why is KDE not default desktop on RHEL6?

Issue

• Our philosophy is to use RHEL6 as default as possible ("Out off the Box") recommended by Red Hat to assure maximum support and development, also for future releases. We do not understand why GNOME is still the default desktop in an Enterprise product like RHEL6. It turns out that GNOME is not suited as a light weight remote desktop, which is a requirement for us to be used with Exceed onDemand, virtual machines or deployment in the "Cloud" as described below.
• The look and feel of KDE4 Plasma desktop matches the newest desktops like Windows 7. The big improvements in the graphical user interface compared to KDE 3.5 in RHEL5 will offer our users an easy to use intuitive desktop, without loss of the command-line interface for the diehards.

• Pros

  • Intuitive easy to use Desktop with new functionality
    • Kickoff Graphical User Interface
      • Favorites
      • Applications
      • Computer
      • Recently used
      • Leave
    • Widgets on the desktop

• Cons

  • No modular build of KDE, which is avail from version 4.6
  • No proof that gamin caching issue is solved.
  • gamin cannot be removed!!! the whole OS depends on gamin according
    dependency list of yum
• Useability
  • The most noticeable changes for users are the new icons and theme. Qt4 is the major system change for KDE4. The impact of Qt4 on the nxpde applications needs to be tested. KDE4 is a mature stable product which can be used out of the box.
  • KDE is moving (v4.6 and higher) towards a modular desktop with a small footprint, to be used on different kind of devices (desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile) This new modular KDE4 will offer the real benefits (less memory and cpu usage, smaller footprint, fast) and is available from version 4.6 and higher.
• GNOME2 is not a candidate to replace KDE4 in the NxDI environment, based on the test results and paper studies.
  • GNOME will only run in fallback mode on the current Access servers (no graphic card)
  • GNOME will only run in fallback mode in a RHEL6.2 virtual machine
  • No software rendering support in RHEL6.2 which is needed for GNOME
  • Reasonable amount of CPU power needed when software rendering is supported
  • GNOME is a windowmanager for a fat desktop and not intended for remote desktop solutions like Exceed onDemand.
  • GNOME will block the possibility to run remote desktop from the cloud
• The release notes describe KDE as an "alternative desktop environment"
• If you select Desktop Install during dvd iso installation then you will get a Gnome desktop.
• The yum groupinstall is very clear about the default:

Grouplist for Gnome:
$ yum grouplist desktop
Setting up Group Process
Installed Groups:
   Desktop

Grouplist for KDE:
$ yum grouplist kde-desktop
Setting up Group Process
Installed Groups:
   KDE Desktop