After around 25 years of enjoying peer-peer desktop computing with self
administration I look back to client/server models and want something
for most of what I do without my own machine/network admin.

How about a terminal/thin-client running a cloud distributed java
byte-code OS with availability of byte-code apps including development?
The only thing besides that I would want is hardware input/output like:
CD/DVD, USB stick, memory card, etc. might give a rise to the hardware
consumable market ...

With the right model I think OS or network development is even possible

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Not a professional opinion unless specified.
dale - http://www.dalekelly.org/