Can you provide any information about a "short sale" of a home?

I have been hearing a lot about short sales and how they are offering relief to home owners. So I thought I would pose this question to my “Collective” on here.

What do you think of doing a short sale? Is it easy to do? Does it harm one’s credit? Should one speak to an attorney about it? Would it be better to wait for any legislation currently being worked on to provide relief to homeowners? What would you do if you were facing increasing interest rates and payments and potential foreclosure?