Since about a year or so I receive dvd-copies of beta and community technical previews (ctp) of Visual Studio .NET 2005 and Sql Server 2005. I usually hesitate to install these every time a new disc arrives, because it takes quite some time to set up a Virtual PC installation of the OS + VS.NET/Sql Server. And yes, I try to copy the OS from a clean image, but still...
Richard Clark introduces an idea (okay, he admits he's not the first with this one) that has my full support. Why not distribute the Virtual PC image with the full installation already in it? You get instant access to the latest features and get right to testing the new bits. How about that?