What is this VMware anyway?

I wish to pause at this point in our series on your first bot to address something which has been mentioned in the comments: VMware.  But first, let’s get the introductions out of the way:

What is VMware? 

VMware is a company which specializes in virtualization.  What’s that?  They solve a problem that businesses encounter, and does it in a way which is more reliable and less expensive.  Many businesses have a dedicated computer which does only a few tasks and typically runs custom-made software.  Let’s give an example:

A dentist’s office could have one computer which is dedicated solely to maintaining the schedule and another computer to handle insurance billing.  This computer could queue the invoices and send them out once a day.

So what is the problem?  What if this core computer’s hardware fails and one can not find the installation disks?  What if the company which provides the software declares bankruptcy?  (Don’t laugh, I’ve seen this dozens of times.  Businesses love stability and will continue using ‘obsolete‘ software for years after its publisher’s demise.)  Such a disaster could be catastrophic.  So VMWare has developed a program which will take a snapshot of an entire computer’s ecosystem and save it as a file, which can then be run on other hardware.  Viola,  problem is solved.  You have a backup.  You do not have to worry about losing installation disks or be held hostage by a custom program.

Professional botters use VMware’s products to run multiple bots on a dedicated computer.  I run two (2) bots on the same machine my wife uses in her everyday tasks.  I use VMware to separate my personal laptop from work programs which I am required to run as past of my day job.  In short, VMware makes excellent products and most, if not all, botters swear by it.

If it is so good, then why did you fail to mention it?

VMware’s products are not like your typical program or game where you just install and run.  You need to have some technical know-how and there is a learning curve.  If you cringe at the thought of installing Windows, imagine installing Windows under Windows.  (Yes, I know it is easier to install Windows under VMWare than Windows directly.) 

If one is thinking about getting their first bot, this project could be more daunting than installing and configuring the bot itself.  This is why I did not include VMware as part of Botting 101.  This is more a Botting 201 topic.  Speaking of which, I will resume Botting 101 next time unless comments dictate otherwise.