Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 and Sun xVM VirtualBox are both free hardware virtualization tools that can be used for testing purposes. If you plan to try Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you should consider using a virtualization tool. Testing in a virtual environment has many advantages even if you have PCs for testing purposes. I guess most Windows admins tend to use Virtual PC simply because it is from Microsoft. However, VirtualBox is by the far the better tool, which is the topic of this article. VMware Workstation is certainly an even better choice if you are willing to spend $189.00. But for occasional testers, VirtualBox is sufficient.
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