Hacker News Reader

Comment by nickb | Hacker News Reader

But it doesn't run MacOS X which means you can't run all the Mac apps.

If you read, I did actually say that.

FWIW, I intend to install some flavour of Linux (likely Ubuntu) when I get around to it. All the applications I use tend to be multiplatform these days so I'm OS neutral - there's honestly no application on any platform that I'm reliant on and I like it this way.

I'm reliant on being able to test in as many browsers as possible, and unfortunately, this is where I run into the not quite dead monopoly, because I still have to test stuff in IE. And yes, I can run it on my mac, but I still have to buy a copy of, sadly, Vista. I dislike intensely having to pay that monopoly rent.

If it helps, Microsoft provide free Virtual PC images of IE6, IE7 and IE8 for compatibility testing. Only downside is they time expire after a few months when they provide a new version and you'll need to convert the virtual machine to another format to run it on Mac or Linux.

Download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21E... and info on converting them can be found at http://blog.mozmonkey.com/2008/vpc-ie6-ie7-ie8-on-mac-os-x/ (it suggests you can use Zipeg to decompress the files meaning a Windows PC isn't required at all).

And a few hours later, I can verify that it works quite nicely too. Again, thanks very much.

Actually that looks really useful. Thanks!

like what, firefox?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com