My only VM experience comes courtesy IRLS 672 and 675, so I've never seen or worked with a pre-installed VM (unless I'm confusing the definitions). If pre-installed VM's were clean and easy to use, then I could see some benefit to having more time to manage the collection. However, judging from the blog assignment statements that, "the files are large" and "in practice, it's almost as much work and sometimes difficult to troubleshoot", it doesn't sound like the benefits would be easily realized.
And, of course, the learning experience can't compare to doing it yourself. For those managing a small or private collection, maybe the pre-installed VM is a good option. But for larger collections, with sophisticated features, numerous users, and large amounts of data, I think the "do-it-yourself" VM is the better option. Serious collection administrators will need to know the structure and design of their system in order to troubleshoot and take full advantage of the features; something I'm not sure you could master using a pre-installed VM.
Now, I'm writing with the understanding that VMWare Workstation is not a pre-installed VM, but one I created from scratch. Assuming that's the case, then I feel like I'm approaching a level of competency (and confidence) that suggests my preference is for building my own VM. If I'm wrong about my understanding, then I guess I'd have to reconsider, but at this point I believe my knowledge and career would both benefit from knowing how to administer a "do-it-yourself" VM installation. Of course, as I stated earlier, I don't believe I've ever used a pre-installed VM, so it's possible I'm speaking out of ignorance and perhaps these are (or someday will be) better options.
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