It used to be that we talked about DLL hell. This was a place where everyone who was evil enough to try to run too many applications on their computer ended up. One day you would install a new application and you would be instantly transported into DLL hell. You would try replacing one DLL after another. You would move DLLs to individual application directories. In the end you would end up feeling as if you were just shuffling the DLLs, trading one problem for another.

While we've made some progress from the days when DLL hell was inflicted on most developers at some time or another, we have not fundamentally resolved all of the issues that are caused by trying to take one machine and get it to serve multiple masters. A more current day challenge might be trying to run multiple versions of Windows on one hard drive, or Linux and Windows side by side on multiple partitions. No matter where we are in the technology lifecycle, we've seen how we can try to get one system to do too many things and have had to live with the challenges. This is where virtualization technology comes to the rescue.

No longer do you have to mix two applications that don't get along together just because you only have one PC on which to work. Virtualization technologies allow you to run multiple, independent operating systems which have the ability to be isolated completely from other processes running on your PC.

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Virtualization technology is what the buzz is about today. People are talking about reducing servers, consolidation, and other ways that virtualization impacts the IT landscape, however, little awareness has been created at the benefits that virtualization technology brings the developer. The ability to maintain isolated environments, keep your place when shifting to another project, and the ability to roll back unintended changes are great (legal) performance enhancers for software developers.