This all sounds so familiar...The thing I've never understood about RHEL is it's insistence on focusing on the server vs. the desktop. Everyone I know who runs linux on a desktop runs Ubuntu (or Kubuntu). Just like years ago when everyone ran Windows on their desktops and Unix as a server platform. Once MS injected themselves into the server space it was over. People could take their existing desktop paradigm and shift it to their servers. That's what gave MS the advantage in the server market. We all know it certainly wasn't the strength of their product.
Now we see RHEL making the same mistake Unix made all those years ago. Laughing at this upstart desktop distro maker while touting their server license sales. When the worm turns, it's going to turn quickly. All those desktop Ubuntu users are going to start questioning the validity of RHEL's dominance in the server market and it's going to be over. The way to win market share is to be in your potential markets face every day. If RHEL cedes the desktop market to Ubuntu (which it looks like they may be doing) it will haunt them later.