yes, just get it... and what is easier: WUBI or a Live CD? There are some valid reasons not to use WUBU but in general they boil down to something like 'I don't want to run or suggest running Ubuntu'. Well, sorry, but *Ubuntu is a very easy to learn and user-friendly distribution with a vivid community. BTW, it is also possible to install Kubuntu or Xubuntu with WUBI.

Yes true, people who buy VMware use it for this very purpose!

You've clearly never used a VM in a professional environment, or you're mixing up VMware Player with all other VMware products.

Every VM listed here using 'virtualization' or 'para-virtualization' provides native to near-native speed. If the rest of the hardware is supported it is very much like the real experience.

Yes, there are some issues with a VM, like for example disk I/O. Several solutions mitigate the problem. Like a seperate harddisk for each installation.

Running 2 OSes in paralel has some advantages too. For example, you can easily switch back and forth. When I started using Linux this wasn't possible, and back in the days when I bought a new computer it was a blessing to have a 2nd one available. One can even remotely log in on the VM. Something Vista Home edition doesn't even allow anymore since it lacks RDP server...