A massive sad part of all this is that so much of what is going on in Linux DE land right now seems to be driven by a pipe dream called multiseat. Or effectively using software to turn a Linux desktop install into a desktop mainframe.
This by attaching a bunch of peripherals and use software to assign them to groups that effectively form the equivalent of a graphical terminal.
All this supposedly in the hopes of introducing affordable computing to schools in the developing world. But said schools have already tested and discarded this idea, so why the DEs keep pushing it is a mystery.
Serious question: I remember claims that poorer countries basically switched to smartphones instead of PCs and phones are supposed surprisingly ubiquitous there. Can anybody confirm that?
Seats never made much sense to me and if the smartphone story has any truth to it, then I do not see any valid use case for that idea these days.
It's certainly true in urban India (and becoming more true in rural India). And this has the added bonus of bringing people into the banking system because you can store, send, and withdraw cash from your mobile account (this started in sub-saharan Africa but is becoming more of a thing in rural India too).
This by attaching a bunch of peripherals and use software to assign them to groups that effectively form the equivalent of a graphical terminal.
All this supposedly in the hopes of introducing affordable computing to schools in the developing world. But said schools have already tested and discarded this idea, so why the DEs keep pushing it is a mystery.