I'm not sure VNC is the really the default on Linux, or that there even is a "default" solution. On local networks I've had good luck tunneling X, and it's eve

I'm not sure VNC is the really the default on Linux, or that there even is a "default" solution. On local networks I've had good luck tunneling X, and it's even worked well running lightweight programs remote over a VPN in a pinch. For "real" remote connections through the internet, x2go has been pretty good. At a previous job I used Remmina (an RDP client) to connect to Windows machines, and X2Go for Linux machines, and they felt about the same to me. It really depends far more on network speed than anything else.