Re: I can't agree with this
+1 Mint may look prettier out of the box (what where the Suse 13.2 chaps thinking?) but on a day-to-day basis I found suse to be more robust (than Ubuntu), not least for "not-borking-the-install" when adding new software.
I'm not sure what the hate for KDE4 is all about. It was woefully undersupported by apps when introduced, but unless you have an s3 virge...
If you're looking for an *office* desktop system, all the widgets are generally a good thing. Yes, a calendar on the toolbar is a good plan. For server or low power systems, stick XFCE or LXDE on there.