This tutorial is targetted at installing a Ubuntu Virtual Machine on a Windows computer.
- A Virtual Machine (VM) is a fancy program that emulates computers
- Why would you use them? Great for developing and testing software on different platforms, offers extraordinary amounts of flexibility, great for businesses (because you have full control - it can save you money, make maintenance easier, allow for remote workstations, plus they can be manipulated, started and stopped instantly)
- The downsides... They aren't nearly as fast. You do still have to pay licensing fees for software that requires that (things like Windows 10 for example), the support isn't quite as good for certain hardware components, there can be network constraints, and there is an additional layer of debugging if something goes wrong
- Ideally you don't have to use them