VM setup are usually free (at least with virtualbox), and nowadays, developers are using powerful devices that could handle multiple VMs installations and it's not exactly rocket science to install them tho). The only setback is bandwidth. A hard disk space. Been using this for awhile https://github.com/xdissent/ievms and it has been the most accurate and fast solution for me to test cross browser compatibilities. And oh, it's for Linux/Mac based machines. Sorry, sorry.
+norkhairi misdi sure if you calculate the time you have to setup and maintain this vm's as free than you can do this. And if you have the licenses for win XP and Vista and 8 etc. Try it and you see what I mean
+Frank Neulichedl I've been using it for awhile now. But I understand what you meant with all the "licenses issues", but hey, I only using it for cross-browser testing, not to play games, so I didn't install any other apps in the VM.
And there's a 'clean slate' snapshot once you sets up the VMs, which will allow you to rollback to the pristine version of the installed OS and of course, that means it will remove all apps you have installed and back to pure install. https://github.com/xdissent/ievms#clean-snapshot
And that doesn't even bother me, as I used it just for testing, not as a daily driver OS.
+norkhairi misdi I must admit that I missed that MS is giving out the VMs - I thought you had to buy all OS Versions - still I try to minimize my maintenance hassles anyway - so good that there is an option for the ones that have the time to spare.
+Frank Neulichedl I thought the same the first time and I was shocked when I found it. It has been one of those "_too good to be true, but they really are true_" products that I've used. Not sure about maintenance, haven't done any maintenance so far with the VMs to date. I left them in a saved state and reopens them exactly where I left them off the last time I saved. Seriously, you really should try it. For downloading the VMs, you can just leave them overnight to download as it is pretty automated.
Force you make test cases AUTOMATIC.
And there's a 'clean slate' snapshot once you sets up the VMs, which will allow you to rollback to the pristine version of the installed OS and of course, that means it will remove all apps you have installed and back to pure install. https://github.com/xdissent/ievms#clean-snapshot
And that doesn't even bother me, as I used it just for testing, not as a daily driver OS.