Requirements...

Let’s look at the issues...

With X-windows, access to multiple remote machines is not an issue. With multi-user PCs, even access to PCs is possible. But performance may be an issue.
DŲ has chosen NT for its Level 3 DAQ trigger OS. It is desirable to have at least some NT software development and testing platforms.
The ultimate goal of software development is platform independent code. One would like to find the best integrated development environment - which may well be on a PC.