My comments should again be taken with a grain of salt (but being a Noob is a perspective of sorts) is that offering a workable free product has the effect that countless people will try virtualisation and get confidence before applying these methods in business and other mission critical applications. I certainly would not have looked at VMs if the entry point was $200 and while I am way Too Old to become a money making consultant for VMware - I still talk to younger IT people and hope to pay my dues in increasing their (VMware's) profile in the marketplace if it works for me.
Putting a little effort in to us free users does cost money, but it is a workable business model - and done right, pays dividends (you all know of many fine examples out there) - and I worry that continuum's comment about the beginning of the end could be realistic - simple solution is to be honest and forthright in support ( ref the "head in the sand" treatment of nospamboz).
Again I would like to thank everyone on this forum, in particular, nospamboz and continuum, for help to my issues - I would have certainly given up by now if not for your help..... 4.01 is working well so far - and no doubt I will learn so much more by reading your posts in the near future.
Peter