There were, and they worked very well. I used them for a while. You could sit down at any of the terminals on campus, select the server you wanted to log into

There were, and they worked very well. I used them for a while. You could sit down at any of the terminals on campus, select the server you wanted to log into, and log into your own account. It would bring up a fresh instance of your desktop, much like when you boot up your own computer. Except all the files and configuration were on a shared server. The experience was almost as good as running applications locally, with the added benefit that the applications ran on a big, shared, beefy computer somewhere else, much more powerful than could be placed at each desk. And you could sit down wherever was convenient to do your work, and have all your files and familiar configuration available. Back then, most people didn't have their own laptop to work with so that wasn't an option. Those that did, their laptop would be much slower and have a poorer quality screen.