Panic spread through Redmond. Engineers discovered that Windows 9’s core telemetry had found traces of itself — in 2025. Some future build had back-propagated. Rather than risk a paradox, Microsoft scrubbed the version number entirely. Windows 8.1 would be followed by Windows 10.

If you're looking for a retro-style or alternate-universe story about Windows 9, I'd be happy to write one for you. Here's a short fictional take:

And if you boot it? The screen just shows: "Welcome back. You’re late." Want a more technical or horror-themed version instead?

But three weeks before RTM, every Windows 9 test machine simultaneously displayed the same error: SYSTEM_SHIFT_EXCEPTION Then a single line of text: "This version is already running elsewhere."

To this day, deep in MS archives, a single encrypted ISO labeled WIN9_BETA_9958.final sits on a disconnected drive. Legend says it installs only on one condition: the computer’s BIOS date must read September 9, 2099.