I just spotted the new free VMware Player. This is totally cool.
I can envision companies using VMWare Player to demo complete environments, like an ASP.NET & SQL Server Express application; just configure the virtual machine to have everything needed! This basically eliminates most potential configuration problems that could cause a vendor to loose a sale when the software is what the prospect needs but getting it to work is too difficult or time-consuming for the prospect. This is especially important for lower priced software.
ISVs could even start shiping preconfigured software using VMWare Player.
This is definitely something to watch.
I wonder when/if Microsoft will do something like this with their Virtual PC/Server technology?