Beachwalker
The Virga happens to be ( to me) one of the nicest looking tents ever designed. That is the main reason why I started to use the 3rd pole at the rear ( to get that look). If I drop the tent just a little at the rear,, it looks even more like the Virga/Squall.
Forgetting the aesthetics, the Contrail has more space at the foot-end, the height at the apex of the rear pole of the Virga is the same height across the Contrail.
Those struts are also stronger than the curved pole of the Virga. Because the side walls are wider (further out) they give (IMHO) less wind resistance than particularly the Virga II.
So no weight saving but more space and versatility.
HS could have a different view, and fair enough he is entitled to have one, but hopefully he is busy designing more tents.
Franco
This picture is not my best interpretation of the Virga look but is one that I have at Photobucket.


Since HS has mentioned set up time, I am still the world record holder for the Contrail (06) set up time (mostly because I was the only competitor)
58 sec is the time to beat.
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1430969