It is not installed with Kubuntu and I just install it. It's no big deal.
The real issue is probably disk size. I have heard the same thing about
Rhythmbox. IMO, they should start with Mono and applications that depend on
it. If it is anything like .NET it has to suck size wise.

Some people on Brainstorm even want Amarok and Digikam installed. Both are
KDE applications. It seems that lots of Ubuntu users are running mixed GNOME
and KDE systems.