Mail is also centralized, so you can read your mail on any machine. Binaries and configurations are updated across all the machines, so virtually all software is available on all machines. If you do need to log into a different machine for one reason or another, we suggest ssh. Most of the commonly used unix mail clients are installed. Web browsing can be done using Netscape , which is installed on all machines.
Some machines have Realaudio working.
Most commonly used TeX packages are installed on all machines. This will result in garbage output, and waste a lot of paper, because the printer is expecting a postscript file.