Ignorance and standards compliancy

Being a "Microsoft Partner", the company I work for employs Internet Explorer as the standard web browser for all of its users.

A new student has joined the company two days ago, and immediately "needs" Firefox installing on his computer. Here's the transcript of a conversation I had:

ME: "Why do you need Firefox. Standards within the organisation require you to have IE. I get to have all of the Browsers installed as my job is a Web Developer."

HIM: "Firefox is better."

ME: "No argument there. But that doesn't really provide a real need for it."

HIM: "I want to be able to read my Blog."

ME: "Surely you can just read it in IE."

HIM: "It only works in Firefox."

ME: "Why didn't you design for IE too?"

HIM: "It's standards compliant."

ME: "And?"

HIM: "Besides, I don't want people using IE to read it."

ME: "That is 85% of your potential viewers. Just because it's apparently standards compliant, you can't be ignorant and shut people out."

It frustrated me, how he came across as a purist, but then revealed that Firefox was the only browser he designed for. He's a Browser Targeting Developer, not a Web Developer.

New people are coming along claiming that they only develop with standards compliancy in mind. In truth, these people are designing for Firefox, because Firefox is a standards compliant browser. It's not the only browser, and certainly isn't the most popular yet. Even if Firefox had 85% of the Web Browser market, it still wouldn't stop me from developing for IE and Opera.