Appliance Vs Software based routers

[Laurens Vets]

> The (more often than not) unofficial answer: using a custom platform
> raises the entry barrier for cloning/abuse/etc. It's a bit hard to
> run your appliance MIPS software on an off-the-shelf PC; but it (used)
> to be possible to run PIX software on a PC (and in a VM too, IIRC.)

Cisco PIX: no, Cisco ASA: yes. It even runs under VMware...  It's 
however very hackish... :)