[PLUG] Upgrade kde or switch to gnome?

[Michael Robinson]

I am using the kde that comes with Redhat 7.2 and I am wondering what 
specifically needs to be done to get a newer version of kde hopefully with
fewer kmail, etc., bugs installed maybe in a different directory?  How many 
programs will need to be upgraded that are kde specific etc. and is there
a quick way to find out?

There has been some suggestion that I go to gnome instead because gnome
doesn't depend as much on tons of packages and it supposedly reconfigures
better than kde.  I've also heard that there are problems with using kde 
commercially where gnome has no issues at all that way.  How do I migrate
kde mail spools to some other software under gnome?  Suposedly a lot of
gnome progams don't need gnome to run which is a plus.

I have a minimum no X 7.2 box that I can probably take the package list off
to see which ones I don't have to consider in an uninstall.  As far as kmail's
address book and various kde data is this in a few spots I can easily find?
The easiest would be to pull the data off, uninstall kde, and compile a new
version from source probably.  Is it true that a new version of kde can be 
installed in a seperate tree and if so how can I switch between new and
old version to see if the new version works before dumping old?

     --  Michael C. Robinson