Sun virtual box, Windows 7 and Ubuntu too

I writing this entry via Firefox running under Windows 7 evaluation copy, build 7100, within Sun's Virtual Box 3.0 on my dell inspiron 530 running XP. Now that is a mouthful if I do say so myself. Additionally I can also fire up Ubuntu 8.10 or 9.04, run a Joomla or Wordpress virtual appliance either at the same time or by themselves. Just a few short years ago that would have taken at least 4 different PC a server and all the networking stuff to connect them. Now I can run them all on one PC. Amazing and relatively easy.

The question I have is - If I can do all of this on my "home pc" without spending a cent why can't companies like Bentley, Autodesk or Trimble provide me with functional easy to use virtual applications for CADD.

For example how about a Plotting appliance that I could set up anywhere to handle work group or office plotting. How about a project/file management or survey management tool that I could run under what ever OS I want to, be it Linux, Window or Mac OS?

Why do survey data collectors cost thousands of dollars when I can get a netbook for $250 that is 2 or 3 times more powerful and versatile than any data collector on the market. Not only that but I can buy 4 or 5 for the cost of one data collector! Am I the only one that sees this or am I missing something? With the economy the way it is and the need to "do a lot more with a lot less" why aren't there any "engineering netbooks"?

Something to think about...