browser emulators?

In response to my previous post about old GIF posts being FUBAR'd by current browsers with mandatory anti-aliasing or smoothing features, S. R. emailed wondering if the solution might be "an emulator on the server side, that forces rendering of any number of pages/urls that the designer wishes, to any number of possible browsers/versions." I have heard talk of such but replied thusly:

I don't have a problem with web standards being a consensus and artists working within that consensus. Unfortunately the consensual notion of progress in this case was that Safari-style anti-aliasing was the right way to go. But now I've lost and I represent the crank fringe. My guess is web professionals have enough worries without having to accommodate every crank fringer that's out there. Having a grab bag of different browser settings on servers is thoughtful but not very elegant. How many nutty settings need to be accommodated? Who decides? Eventually you have to have a Wikipedia style vetting process.
It's easier for me to change a few GIFs than agitate for broader change in this case (except for occasional griping).