The development environment is one of the most important factors to be taken into consideration for successful projects. The environment has three basic elements: the operating system, the text editor and the test environment. The operating system is not really important as long as you’re used to it, and this also applies to the text editor. The test environment is something else, because you want to avoid “surprises” when your code goes on the production or company test environment.
Your test environment should be very similar, if not identical to the production environment. Unfortunately a lot of organizations have rules that stop you from having your perfect environment. Sometimes requiring a different environment (such as Windows / Mac OS) than your production (such as Linux)
How are you supposed to have a PHP test environment under Windows / Mac OS that is similar to your production Linux? The answer is quite simple: virtualisation. You can have a Linux virtual machine that runs your test environment, and the best part is that you have total control of the test environment, with root access.
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The only advantage you have with VMWare, when installed on a server, you can access it anywhere, for the cost of comfort.