Windows has not caught up since then. (At least it comes with nicer wallpapers and a deskbar which takes up more space.)

If you install OpenSSH and tsclient, you can ditch all but one monitor as well as your second keyboard and mouse set. The Unix side, of course, is easier and works better than the Windows side, but all of your displays can be exported to one screen if you are a GNU/Linux user. This works for everything but demanding video games but PC gaming has been eclipsed by consoles anyway. Now, let’s get back to work!

“ssh -X user@host” is all you need to export everything in the Unix world. Non free Unix boxes can be a bit tricky but most GNU/Linux distributions will work out of the box without further effort. This way you can seemlessly fill your virtual desktops with output from as many computers as you feel the need to run. Cut and paste works flawlessly and files can be moved around with ease using Konqueror’s “sftp:/” ioslave. The computers don’t all have to be on your desk or even in your house, they can be anywhere you have a reasonably static IP address and a GNU/Linux box you can log into. Windows can also be transported this way via tsclient.

If you must talk to Windows, you can run Samba and tsclient. Terminal Server Client does Windows Remote Desktop protocol service. For the most common versions of Windows, this is not encrypted and these should be tunneled by X11 if the boxes are not all on a local hub. Windows will only let one person at a time use a computer, so you will litterally be stealing the screen, but it works well enough. Windows XP will export it’s screen and fill up one of your spare virtual desktops. Samba can be used to move files on and off of those machines. People with a great deal of patience can also use Samba to manage their Windows logins and perform other stupid pet tricks.