Why would one need Software Collections?

When providing compute infrastructure to various users, such as at a research university or lab, quite frequently a researcher needs to keep an identical configuration throughout the lifetime of a particular project. Same libraries, same compiler, etc.

Having these providable in a sane manner other than every researcher having to build and maintain their own software stack is quite desirable.

Also as a software developer, it is valuable to be able to test your software's ability to be compiled by various versions of the compiler. Especially with C++11 as each compiler version adds capabilities.

Cry