Or, in summary, it's a heck of a lot easier to instantiate a new instance of a machine from a snapshot than instantiate a new machine from a set of directions and some auto-config scripts.
I agree standard images are much easier to set up than a hand configured system. That does not mean said image should run on top of an emulator.
I see some value in having a running system right now, instead of waiting for a long latency while the image is downloaded to real hardware... at least in some situations. However, is taking a permanent performance degradation of an order of magnitude worth that advantage?
To borrow someone else's words: https://blog.engineyard.com/2014/pets-vs-cattle
Or, in summary, it's a heck of a lot easier to instantiate a new instance of a machine from a snapshot than instantiate a new machine from a set of directions and some auto-config scripts.