In this other universe, Microsoft is still the leading software company on the planet, but still has rivals, just as it does in our world. IE8 is launched on time, but the company has rushed it out in order to meet its committed launch date. As a result, it contains a few bugs and unfinished bits of code. Nearly 60 of them.

But in this strange alternate reality, technology journalists are, for some reason, reasonable human beings and praise the innovations built into IE8, while explaining that no one can expect complex software to work properly first time and that fixes for the most serious bugs will be ready in a month or so's time.