I just got my grubby little hands on a copy of Vmware Workstation 4, and I wanted to share my experiences with you guys (and dolls
).
Vmware allows you to create completly independent operating systems inside your existing system, unlike old emulators that just pretended to be one OS inside of another, Vmware is a fully functional virtual machine.
Last night I installed a RedHat system inside of my XP Pro PC for example. I went thru the full install process from the 3CD distro, rebooted the virtual machine and voila...instant Linux learning enviroment. Since I'm new to Linux this is ideal for me, I can't wait to start browsing the web and emailing from this new "alien" enviroment. Linux is very exciting to me (my GF is just shaking her head). Best part is that I didn't have to aquire any new hardware.
But I digress, Vmware is the point here, the applications are virtually
endless with a virtual emulator like Vmware:
*use a virtual OS to test software without risking your base OS
*use a virtual OS to run all your P2P apps, any virus or adware you my aquire would be contained to your virtual enviroment.
*rebuild fully functional OS's in a fraction of the time.
Anyway, I should mention that I do not work for Vmware, I just had to pass this on as I can't remember the last time I was this excited about software.
It costs around $200 and there is a free 30 trial here:
http://www.vmware.com/index.html --download link upper left, get the Workstation 4.5 binary