Unix did make it work much better a bit later, organizations used to run NFS and single sign on with Kerberos to workstations, automated from scratch reprovisio

Unix did make it work much better a bit later, organizations used to run NFS and single sign on with Kerberos to workstations, automated from scratch reprovisioning of workstations (so you could just reinstall from tftp server with org specific SW customizations included if previous user had messed the box up), smooth remote access to all machines including gui apps, etc. It just went away due to Microsoft crowding it out.