OS X: accounts
Why does MacOS X provide such conspicuous user accounts? Yes, it's based on Unix, but why do you need separate user accounts on a laptop?
One approach might be to create separate accounts for your roles and projects. I might have one account set up for writing, with its own dock, desktop, and fonts. Another account for code development would have its own setup. This might work in practice, or might make switching tasks inconvenient. What do people actually do?
Is there any ethnography on the subject?