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Comment by asnyder | Hacker News Reader

There's no need to pirate windows for QA. Microsoft offers free virtual machines loaded with different versions of IE specifically for QA purposes, see http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=....

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Those virtual images are for Microsoft Virtual PC, which only runs on Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Everything I can see on the Internet suggests that the files used to work with non-Microsoft virtualization software (like VMWare), but does not anymore. See http://petelepage.com/blog/2009/09/running-the-ie-vpcs-on-ot...

but you actually need to own a copy of some form of windows to run these.

these are windows virtual pc [1] images

Supported Operating Systems:Windows 7;Windows Server 2003;Windows Vista;Windows XP

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx

Sure, a single windows license isn't cost prohibitive. You can easily find them in the < $100 range on Newegg, SoftwareMedia, etc, not to mention the numerous promotions they run which can bring a license down to the $50 - $70 range. Someone else mentioned BizSpark, which can help defray even these minor costs. In either case you only need one license and then you can just remote into the machine and pick your VM whenever you want to QA.

Microsoft has a startup program called BizSpark that gives you access to nearly all of their software for free.

http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/

Overview of the software packages included http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/5/4/15454442-CF17-4...

I believe last time I checked it was $99 and you could use it for 3 years before having to upgrade.

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