Although the files are large, it’s possible to create a working virtual machine for download and playback in your Virtualization software (although in practice, it’s almost as much work and sometimes difficult to troubleshoot). In your blog, discuss the possibility of downloading a pre-installed VM versus building your own, from a learning and pedagogical perspective.
I think that Omeka plugins are much more fun than discussing the VM, but I'll touch on both. I think the fact that I preferred to download and install the GoogleTranslate plugin at the command line will give you the idea that I enjoyed setting up and configuring my VM. For known tasks, it is much faster to "wget http://etc" "unzip" and "sudo mv /target/directory" rather than going through WinSCP or other transfer program. By the time I log in to the VM through the program, I could have done it a the command line. Unfamiliar tasks are quite different and in those cases, I would benefit from visually dragging and dropping files (or whatever the tasks might entail). It's just the difference between recalling a command from memory or recognizing it in a list.
Since we did not do our assignments via the download and playback method, it is hard to be fair to both methods. I am happy we built the VMs from VMware and managed them at the command line. I'm no longer intimidated by the command line like I was at the beginning of the summer. The parenthetical, "although in practice, it’s almost as much work and sometimes difficult to troubleshoot" is not selling me on the alternative either.
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