Using HyperV to help testing in OneNote - an immediate benefit to me

So the other day I had the chance to head out and work from home. I was able to do this because I had all my testing ready to go in HyperV. I had a Vista Machine with 64 bit version installed ready to go for some setup testing, and had another image ready to go with a 32 bit version of Vista to finish some service pack testing for Office 2007.

It was great. I was able to connect to the server running the HyperV VMs from home and get my work done. Typically, I can't work at home - I need human interaction - but this one of the rare cases for me in which I had enough step by step work laid out in front of me that I was able to make it work. Having that long stint of testing time (interrupted only by a cat trying to kill me once or twice) was a welcome relief.

HyperV is one of the technologies we are trying to use more and more. A real benefit of this is being able to quickly switch tasking and stay unblocked. For the setup testing, my old way of working was to install (or restore) an OS onto a single test machine, then start setup running. While setup runs, my single test machine would be devoted to it exclusively, and there was a good chance I would be blocked from any other tasks I had on my test plate. With the HyperV image, I can start setup, then minimize that virtual machine. I can go to another VM I have running with the same or different OS and keep moving with the next highest priority task I have while the setup application is running.

A great time saver and helps keep me on track. Plus, I get to work from home which is a nice treat now and then. I guess I should point out that not all teams at Microsoft get the chance to work at home, but the OneNote test team is one such team. Hyperv helps make it pay off for us!

Questions, comments, concerns and criticisms always welcome,

John