It is possible to add all sorts of widgets to the desktop, most of which are unnecessarily huge in size and give functionality already found elsewhere.

Oh the horror!

Like GNOME, KDE allows you to have panels and widgets on those panels and all that stuff. However try actually using the damn things. It is incredibly non-obvious how you are supposed to move and resize these things, and they tend to cover up the things you don't want to be covered up.

Now that surprised me. Mandriva defaults to placing icons on the right of the desktop as opposed to the more traditional left, making it look more like a Macintosh than anything.

It is possible to create all kinds of different documents, templates for which are included under the Create New menu option. There is a completely hazardous Link to Device option as well that an ordinary will not know how to use and thus should not be there.

Dolphin is used as the file manager, and it is pretty capable.
Last I knew hard drives were not CDs, nor were they removable. So that's a pretty poor icon choice.

There is this wonderfully handy removable media menu, which means that drive icons won't appear on the desktop. And yet you can create links to them and potentially screw your system up, wow.