While trying to get Internet Explorer 8 installed on my Mac via the usually handy ievms — don’t bother, the 2nd and 4th RAR file are corrupted — I stumbled across Sauce Labs.

Sauce Labs offers cross browser testing environments on totally clean virtual machines. That means no more having to deal with a bunch of half-forgotten virtual Windows installs or grabbing screenshots from BrowserLab. Just tell Sauce Labs what sort of browser and operating system combo you need and you’ll have access to it in seconds.

But what’s most helpful (to me, at least) is that it records a video of the whole interactive session that you can then share with a developer or client.

Plans with unlimited browser time — and a bunch of other useful stuff — start at $12 a month. They’ve also got a free plan that gives you 30 minutes of browser time every month to do your thing. But hopefully it’s worth enough that you’ll pay for it and I can keep my free account…