Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is very
useful for software development and testing new software.
I use this form of virtualization for developing most of the
financial applications Amplus provides. I also use it as a test
environment for new accounting software.
I can create a virtual machine on my computer, install an
operating system, and work in that environment as if it were a
totally separate machine. If something goes wrong such as an
application not "playing nicely with others", I just delete the
whole thing and try again.
Paul Sterling of Motus Connect introduced me to this handy
tool and now I use it all the time.
I find it relatively straightforward to use except when it comes
to networking. Seems like it always takes me a while to set up a
virtual machine to access the Internet through the Shared
Networking Adapter (NAT).
The settings that have worked for me are
Network Discovery: On
Local Area Connection|TCP/IPv4|Preferred DNS Server:
192.168.131.254.
Settings such as this seem so esoteric that it surely must
frustrate many who simply need a test environment but aren't
network administrators. I've experienced that same frustration when
all I want to do is get on with my work but end up spending most of
a day running down some small but critical detail. Two days ago it
was Umbraco (the
terrifically promising CMS). I wanted to get more familiar with it
but couldn't get the virtual machine to access the Internet to
download a required component.
Now that I've got that ironed out - I can start my real work of
learning more about the powerful features of Umbraco.