I did not want to steer anyone to running non-free software. That's the last
thing I'd do, I really admire the philosophy Richard Stalman developed and I
believe he is the greatest thinker of our time.
But as Mark wrote, "I want to use Windows because I need Internet Explorer to
test my HTML, CSS, PHP code". I merely suggested that he should use IE inside
Wine instead. Not only would that minimize the amount of non-free software he
has installed, it would make his life more convenient - developing on
GNU/Linux, testing on GNU/Linux. Not having to reboot each time he wants to
test something in IE. When writing websites, that's what I do. I test them in
IE7 and IE8 running in Wine. Not because I want to optimize for IE, but
because I'm afraid to break compatibility with IE by accident (IE is so
picky, you have to careful what you do CSS-wise). If something doesn't work
out right, I do it differently (according to W3C standards of course!) until
IE is able to display my work as intended, or at least close enough.
Users who have IE installed will not understand what's going on when they try
to access a page and see some bugs. They will instantly blame the developer,
so it's the developers job to make sure his work will look good on every
browser. That's the practical side of the Internet-spirit. Websites have to
be usable by everyone, without discrimination by browser type.
I don't optimize for IE6 though. My patience has it's limits :P It is so
outdated that it's ridiculous.
