There are other ways to manipulate the browser experience. you can specify other versions. eg;
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8;FF=3;Other=4" />
By the way, the more I look at it, the more i question why you’d use ‘emulate’ tag at all when that can all be specified in the content with just what’s listed.
The link to MSDN in your post doesn’t work. If you find it again let me know. i’d like to read up on the differences. I got my info from the W3 Schools site.
EDIT: nevermind, I see the difference now. I found the info at this page. hopefully the link works.
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/06/10/introducing-ie-emulateie7.aspx
in summary, IE7 compatibility support looks as follows: Content Value Details
IE=7 Display in IE7 Standards mode; Already supported in the IE8 Beta 1 release
IE=EmulateIE7 Display standards DOCTYPEs in IE7 Standards mode; Display quirks DOCTYPEs in Quirks mode; Available through the IE June Security Update for IE8 Beta 1
FYI, IE8 is no longer beta or RC, and is available as a full release now.