CHAPTER 11 PRACTICING AND TESTING IN THE CLOUD Note The next version of Microsoft Windows (Windows 8) will be able to support Microsoft VMs. An alternative is to use a third-party VM tool such as VMWare, but there is a cost for this, and your company may not support the installation of third-party software on their standardized desktop platforms. Finally, you can install SharePoint 2010 directly onto your Windows 7 laptop, but doing experimentation on a system that is deeply integrated with your production (i.e., important) machine can be scary. You need to have it working for all of your regular work: What if you want to try out a new third-party tool that breaks your installation? You have no easy way to roll back from that. All of these are viable options, but you are then stuck with the reality that because SharePoint is running directly on your laptop you can't have anyone work with you on a project or give anyone else access to your SharePoint environment while you not there. I know people (mostly IT pros and developers) who do a lot of work on VMs running on their laptops, and they are happy with that, but I have not had the right combination of hardware and software to really make that work well for me. The bottom line on VMs is that if your hardware supports it and your particular work-process fits with it, go for it: It is a great option with the advantage that you can use it anywhere, anytime (no need for Internet connectivity). However, I think that most of us in the world of IA don't have the appropriate hardware, and the inability to share your environment with others is a major limitation. Using Your Own "Shop" If you work for almost any sized organization, you probably have an IT department, and that department may have a mandate to make machines (or more often these days, virtual machines) available for staff to