| Revision as of 13:59, 11 June 2004 editMike Rosoft (talk | contribs)Administrators67,170 edits Removed a recursive link to OS Girls.← Previous edit | Revision as of 14:00, 11 June 2004 edit undoMike Rosoft (talk | contribs)Administrators67,170 edits I changed my mind, it'll look better in bold.Next edit → | ||
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| A small ] on ], the '''OS-tan''' (OS for ], and -tan as an overly cute Japanese ] for a person) or simply ''OS Girls'' are the personification of several OSes, most famously ], by various amateur Japanese artists. A pure fan creation, the appearance of each character is generally consistent among artists. OSes are always portrayed as women, the Windows girls usually as sisters, despite sometimes seeming the same age (or younger). | A small ] on ], the '''OS-tan''' (OS for ], and -tan as an overly cute Japanese ] for a person) or simply '''OS Girls''' are the personification of several OSes, most famously ], by various amateur Japanese artists. A pure fan creation, the appearance of each character is generally consistent among artists. OSes are always portrayed as women, the Windows girls usually as sisters, despite sometimes seeming the same age (or younger). | ||
| A large collection of these images can be found . (Translation help anyone?) | A large collection of these images can be found . (Translation help anyone?) | ||
Revision as of 14:00, 11 June 2004
A small internet phenomenon on Futaba Channel, the OS-tan (OS for Operating System, and -tan as an overly cute Japanese honorific for a person) or simply OS Girls are the personification of several OSes, most famously Windows, by various amateur Japanese artists. A pure fan creation, the appearance of each character is generally consistent among artists. OSes are always portrayed as women, the Windows girls usually as sisters, despite sometimes seeming the same age (or younger).
A large collection of these images can be found here. (Translation help anyone?)
There also exists a Macromedia Flash Animation showing a possible intro to a hypothetical, but highly unlikely, anime show. Trouble Windows An ending theme also exists Trouble Windows ED. A Ghost in the Shell crossover has also been made.
OSX, Linux, and Lindows girls have also shown up on the internet, although some non-OS male characters exist for programs and hardware. Norton Antivirus is usually portrayed as a creepy looking, possibly lecherous old doctor.
ME
The more cutesy personification of the much maligned and infamously unreliable Windows ME OS, ME-tan appearance rarely varies and was likely the first created (by who?). She is instantly recognizable. She has green hair in long pigtails and wears a maid outfit with a ! badge on the front in the spirit of the Windows yellow error icon. ME-tan is a hard worker and always wants to help but predictably fails at everything she tries to do, often literally crashing and irritating her sisters. In spite of, or perhaps due to, her pitiful plight the clumsy ME-tan is one of the most beloved OS girls.
XP
XP is a sexy, dark-haired girl wearing the XP logo as a hair ribbon. As XP is sometimes criticized for bloating a system and being very pretty without equally as useful, XP-san wears very little and has large breasts. A rare variant that represents XP Professional features a more reserved look, akin to 2K Pro-tan. She has XP shaped earphones/hairclips instead of a ribbon, and tends to wear her hair up in a short ponytail. An even rarer variant, for XP Media Center Edition, has short hair and small earrings in the style of XP Professional's hairclip.
2k
A few variants exist, but the most common is Win2K Professional. She is typically an intelligent, professional, reserved looking woman with short blue hair, glasses, and odd hairclips that look like cat ears (often mistaken for cat ears) flanking a small white (bonnet?) that shows the windows logo. Her outfit resembles a swimsuit suggesting the windows logo colors, and she wears a long coat. This is thought to reflect the agreement Windows 2000 is the most stable and dependable system. Because of high stability of Win2K compared with WinME, which was released near 2K, 2K-tan is often described as a guardian of ME-tan.
98
File:98-jpb.jpgFile:98se-jpb.jpg (Win 98 Left, Win 98se Right)
Many variants exist, although the most common is a box with sticks for arms and legs, and a face and dial drawn on the front in crayon. Sometimes the box is open with the lid resembling a crayon box, and a small girl peeking out. Some variants are the small girl from inside the box, the 98 Second Edition is normally portrayed, she has grey-blue hair a green school sailor uniform with the letters SE on the front, she sometimes carries a green box and stick 98 around as a doll. The First Edition of 98 is very similar, but has white uniform, navy blue hair and has a windows logo for part of a tie. The box sizes can vary, ranging from doll-like to taller than an adult. The box is a reference to the Vulcan 300 box from the anime show "Konjiki no Gash Bell!!"
95
95 often appears as a gentle looking brown haired woman in a kimono, with a hair ribbon showing the 4 windows colors. Her most common activities are drinking tea, serving meals or doing other housework. She is also ocassionally depicted wielding a sword in an agressive manner, suggesting a dual personality. One comic strip shows her talking to other OS-tans about beating up the Mac girls. Perhaps she is the old warrior-maiden, who defeated all other operating systems and finally solidified Microsoft's market share?
CE
Being an OS designed for small devices, CE is drawn as a tiny fairy, carrying a staff with a USB plug on it.
3.1
Sometimes it is a white box with stick arms and legs, sometimes a robot suit piloted by a girl, possibly DOS/V.
MS-DOS
A rarer character, she is cute but very shy little girl carrying around a keyboard and usually peeking around corners.
DOS/V
A variant of MS-DOS. Apparently it was a version with support for non-english languages. She is about the same size as Dos but has long grey-blue hair and a dark bodysuit. She is also a lot less shy.
Mac OS 9
File:Mac-jpb.jpg (Still Mac, but a different Version)
Mac OS 9 is the most common Mac OS girl. She is blonde, and wears a ribbon shaped like a 9 and a "platinum white" bodysuit. She usually carries a large apple on her head, or a bomb from the standard Macintosh error dialog. Other common accessories are a white dress with the Mac face logo on the skirt with a slit up the front that follows the nose/profile line, and showing some of her hair like the "detached leaf" as used by the multi-coloured Apple Corp. logo.
Mac OS X
The Mac OS X girl is often portrayed as cat-eared, in following with the Apple "wild cat" naming tradition (every MacOS X release has a codename like "Jaguar", "Panther" and so on). Otherwise, she is shown as an older variation of the Mac OS 9 girl, wearing a platinum white coat and a wireless AirPort device fashioned as a hat.
Longhorn
File:Longhorn-jpb.jpg (Just Different Colours)
This character doesn't have many pictures as she's based on the new Microsoft Operating System Windows Longhorn, one picture shows her as a girl with dark blue hair and two horns extending from the back of her head to the front, her clothing is all white except across the shoulders where its black and there is the letters L and H on her chest.
2003 Server (Saba)
This character is often portrayed as being half-girl, half-fish, with an ethernet hub as a bonnet on her head. Other versions show her as a girl with a short white skirt and a vest-style top with a long tail in the back (usually with a bow) and windows four-square logo pins in the bow at her neck and on the tail. In some forms, she has a belt made from ethernet cable wrapped around her waist. Saba is a pun, as it is both the literal sound of 'Server' in Japanese, and the word for Mackerel, as well.
Norton Antivirus
Doctor Norton, an unspeakably lecherous and horny old doctor, personifies the Symantec Norton Antivirus software. While an ingenious physician, he is infamously known to request (and attempt) the total undressing of an OS-tan for a full physical inspection, even when they're completely healthy. The doctor's lust has no bounds, and his morality is void.
Other Characters
File:Lindows-jpb.jpgFile:Linux-jpb.jpgFile:Nt-jpb.jpg
(Characters from Left to Right: Lindows, Linux and Windows NT)
See Also
External Links
- Other OS and Hardware inspired CG artwork:
- iCandies, a frequently used image among various websites and messageboards, especially among computer enthusiasts and gamers. Based on the iMac.
- Generation 3 Concept Drawing of a girl with PC hardware specifications. Based on the manga "D4 Princess."
- Spirit of Sega Saturn Based on the Sega videogame system.
- Spirit of Playstation Based on the Sony videogame system.