I always assumed that any player who took the QO automatically was unrestricted the next year.
The salary cap faq doesn't really clarify, and different passages, to my reading, suggest different answers:
This passage suggests that anyone coming off a QO is an UFA.
39. What if a restricted free agent has no interest in staying with his original team? Is there any way he can force the issue?
...
If the player really wants to leave, he can accept his original team's qualifying offer, which constitutes a one-year contract at a scale salary. The player must play with his original team for one more season, but following that season he will be an unrestricted free agent, and can then sign with any other team.
But this passage suggests that any FA with 3 or fewer years exp would be an RFA, regardless of whether the previous year was played on a QO.
36. What is restricted free agency?
... Restricted free agency exists only on a limited basis. It is allowed following the fourth year of rookie "scale" contracts for first round draft picks (see question number 41). It is also allowed for all veteran free agents who have been in the league three or fewer seasons.