Will Internet Explorer 6 finally die on August 31, 2009?

We have been using very strange setups here at the office to test sites on Internet Explorer 6. Lot’s of us still use Windows XP, and some of us still had default Internet Explorer 6 on our computers. When IE8 was released, we didn’t upgrade immidiately so we could still test sites in default IE6 installations (lots of different fake/multi IE setups throw most bizzare errors, so testing under default IE installation was a must).

But couple of days ago we finally give in to the dark forces of Windows Auto update, and we upgraded to Internet Explorer 8.

The only correct way now for site testing under different Internet Explorer versions is by using virtual machine of some sort. Vmware is option, but you have to build your own virtual setup which can be a pain. However, Microsoft has been good enough to finally provide developers with Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Images for their Virtual PC. You can download completely free, perfectly legal and working images of followign operating systems packed with IE’s:

• Windows XP SP3 with IE6,
• Windows XP SP3 with IE7,
• Windows XP SP3 with IE8,
• Vista with IE7 and
• Vista with IE8.

All XP images will expire on August 31, 2009, which is the end-of-life for good old Windows XP, and hopefully end-of-life of Internet Explorer 6. Hello Windows Seven! :) (Btw, I’ve tried RC1 of Windows Seven and it ROCKS, not only because of the name).