Way back when computers were a scarce resource and we had to share them. Multiple local user accounts were used for this purpose. Now I find that I never have multiple local logins (the username and password you use to access your physical hardware) except for my personal login and sometimes and admin login. Curious what others do and in what context. It makes tons of sense for a dedicated device in a work context. At home do you have a different account for say your kid? Bonus points: multiple users on a phone or tablet. I had to do that one time on Android it was interesting.
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Things get a little fuzzier on Linux machines where there is both my user and a an admin "user". I treat the other as an abstraction, and type "sudo" if it won't let me do something without invoking that. Sometimes there are problems where I need to install something with sudo, then can't access it as my normal user and vice versa.
You: ~/Applications
Everyone: /Applications It’s that simple.
If I lived with any family, making non-sudoer accounts for them on at least some of the machines would seem like a pretty normal thing.
For your bonus question: I run GrapheneOS and as of now I have 8 user accounts. This might be a bit much for most people. The idea is that my main personal and work accounts use exclusively open source apps, and any context which demands proprietary apps gets siloed off somewhere. Two of the user accounts have google services framework installed, but neither is logged in to the play store.
The reason that the phone is more complex is that I am essentially never forced to use proprietary apps on my desktops, there has always been a way to work around it. But not so on the phone.
recently they started to allow us to RDP into compliant machines so I only use the personal device.
I could use a cheap throwaway laptop, but actually using my M1 MacBook saved me. One time I was running a slideshow that lead into a new years countdown, somebody decided the laptop was in their way so they unplugged the power cable and moved it. It ran on battery for 6-7 hours before I noticed and nearly had a panic attack.
Sure, I could boot into single user mode (can you still even do that on a Mac?) but it’s a pain.