A couple of years back, I had bitched about how MS technology is getting too fast and complex, and to help us developers out, it would really help if pre-configured virtual images were available.

This was such a popular suggestion that it got a huge number of approvals from the developer community, and frankly a lot of attention from within MSFT.

Now of course, like any good idea gaining popularity, the MS Drones came by and marked my issue as "Won't Fix", and the reason cited was "Licensing Implications".

But, it didn't end there.

Looks like, over time, they did actually implement that. Look at all the Virtual Images available. (Via Angus Logan).

The way they did this was, they invented a process to "time bomb" software, so licensing was no longer an issue.

So, here is another suggestion.

Extend that time bomb mechanism, so parties other than Microsoft can play. I should be able to create a solution based on MSFT technologies, and hand over a VHD for the world to play.

This would be incredibly useful for books, trailware, trainings, and a number of other scenarios.