Description of problem: NetworkManager takes control over device even if NM_CONTROLED= is not set. The default value for other settings in ifcfg-* scripts is 'no' so it should be the same for NM.
This is by design. NM will only treat a device as unmanaged if NM_CONTROLLED=no is specified in the ifcfg. What's the real problem here? The defaults don't need to be consistent (and some aren't, like PEERDNS defaults to yes).
The problem is if someone creates ifcfg-* file by hand without any mention of NM he can be confused why NM is taking control over the card. So I think better solution would be to make anaconda to write NM_CONTROLLED=yes into config files and make deafult 'no'. Jirka