Kubuntu isn't on death watch, there was one person being paid to work on it, the rest was community support. The last version he didn't even work on (he was off working on bazaar or something)
If Kubuntu does die it will be at least like 3 releases out.
If you read the article you posted, you'll know "stopped funding Kubuntu" means Canonical "has paid for developer Jonathan Riddell to spend the last seven years working on Kubuntu" and will ask him to do something else after 12.04. He already wasn't fully dedicated to Kubuntu for a year or so.
