And yes, VM-ware, or virtual servers will always be an alternative, though performance still has something to be desired. But of course 10 years will be enough to address this issue as well.

Rod/Walter,

First, I like Rod's idea. I have four virtual machines right now, to support different versions of SQL Server, .NET, and Crystal.

I was not a fan of VN-ware in the past, because of the performance, even when I dedicated as much RAM as possible to the virutal machine. Then I got a duo-core laptop, and could not believe how much better the performance was. Now when I use wm-ware it feels much closer to running as if it were a regular "host" machine.


Kevin