Virtual One
In a recent discussion with a database professor the following problem was pointed out. Students were using their own machines for homework which was based on DB2. There are different operating systems and DB2 supports many of them. Few of the students ran into issues in an unsupported W*****s environment. My proposed solution is to look into so-called virtual appliances. Basically this is a virtual machine that runs a specific pre-installed application, in our case DB2. The good news is that IBM offers a DB2 virtual appliance here, and a smaller image is also available at VMWare here.
Please note that you still need real hardware to run it.
Virtual Two
There has been some blogging (e.g., Susan Visser or Conor O'Mahony) about a virtual IBM event called "Data in Action". You may ask, what is a virtual conference? Will the food be better than at a regular conference? Will people still watch me after a fun intro when the regular (IBM) talk sets in and I start snoring? The answers mostly depend on where and how you attend this virtual event. The good news is that the choice is yours. One thing does not change though:
You still need real coffee to run such an event.