OS-tan Theory Revival

[Bella]

Theory: Plan 9-tan is a hardcore geek

Space nerd..............................check
Science nerd............................check
Cosplays.................................check
Loves B movies........................check
Loves anime............................check
Touhou fan..............................double check

Face it, Plan 9-tan probably had a special place in her closet for her various costumes, a small bookcase filled with comics and a shelf full of anime figurines..... ~w~

[Aurora Borealis]

That's awesome, and now I want to draw Plan 9 and Cirno together! Or for a Team 9 OS-tan style picture, draw Mac OS9-tan, Plan 9-tan and Cirno!   I'd also say that she is the strongest space bunny, but Reisen would challenge that claim, and I don't know if Plan 9-tan stand a chance in a danmaku battle.

[Bella]

Oooh, that would be awesome! I've wanted to draw Plan 9-tan cosplaying Cirno for awhile, lol. : p

[Chocofreak13]

why do i get the feeling Sonata wouldn't be there willingly? ^^;

[Aurora Borealis]

I did get start drawing that idea, but I just need to finish it!

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One of the most influential Mac models turns 25 this year: http://www.macworld.com/article/1167123/the_macintosh_ii_celebrates_its_25th_anniversary.html

Reading this led me to think more about the Macs' early history. Nowadays, the Mac-tans, both the Classic and OSX lines are a close-knit family that strongly value family ties and comradeship... but the Macs' early years had some dysfunction, and not just because of Lisa-tan being antagonistic towards them!

Notably, the Mac II, which shipped with System 4.0, was a radical departure from the original Mac's completely closed architecture, and is instead based on the design of the highly expandable Apple II. Relating to this, System 4-tan would have been a rebel in her youth, and would have been at odds against System 1-tan, who wondered where did she go wrong 'raising that ungrateful brat', thinking that System 4-tan is going to defect and side with the PCs...

Ironically, it's not that System 4-tan wanted to be like the PCs, no, she wanted to be like Apple II-tan, though System 1-tan didn't realize that as she's kind of a ditz, but their antagonism would flare up again when System 5-tan (assuming she was alive in the first place) and System 6-tan were born.

Also, with the Mac II line being very powerful for its time, even rivaling some workstations, System 4-tan and the later Mac OSes that can run on the Mac II line (up to System 7.5.5, IIRC), are naturally very strong and can use more advanced magic than their predecessors though System 4-tan and 7-tan downplay their strength, and System 6-tan needed life-saving stability improvements before being able to realize her full potential.

[Bella]

Ganbare, Aurora-san!

In regards to the early Macs ... it sounds like there was more conflict than I imagined... : o

You say the Mac II line OS-tans were powerful enough to rival some workstations of the era ... I wonder if they ever had any run-ins with the Unices?

[Aurora Borealis]

Good question. It's possible, but I don't think the Unices would have taken them seriously since the early Mac OSes were single user-OSes with no command line and not much of a learning curve. Assuming that the Unices didn't follow the codes of chivalry that the consumer-level computers did, the Macs would have avoided conflict with them. Or to show that the Unices weren't total jerks, maybe they did follow the chivalry ideals around the Macs, but their underlying motive was because they didn't take the Macs seriously, and instead wanted to save their firepower for other Unices that get in the way!

On another note, one of the reasons why System 4-tan was able to reconcile with System 1-tan is that System 4 and later still ran on the B+W compact Macs; System 1-tan at the time struggled to comprehend the thought of Mac-tans running on easily expandable hardware!

[Bella]

That makes sense. The Unices have always been a proud group (and were borderline-arrogant back in that time period) and probably wouldn't have considered the Macs worthy of fighting.

[Aurora Borealis]

At the time, the Unices were too busy destroying themselves!

The Macs, though, likely had no ill-will towards the Unices, since their own top priority was still competing against the MS-IBM Family, and they quickly accepted A/UX-tan when she was introduced into the Apple Family.

I also have some ideas on the nature of the Macs' and Unices' eventual alliance:

It was formed shortly after the end of the OS Wars, and their alliance helped make the existence of the OSX-tans possible, therefore allowing the Macs' faction to continue (since the Classics weren't able to continue their bloodline anymore for some reason; maybe it became too fragile?). However, over the years, an OSX descendant that met the Single Unix Specification and would willingly attend the meetings was demanded from the Unices, since they felt like they were getting the short end of the alliance, especially since NeXTSTEP-tan defected from the Unices shortly after the alliance was established!

[Bella]

That sounds about right. It could also be that Unix-sama bided her time, waiting for an OSX-tan of suitable power/magic to come along - since Unix-tan is generally doesn't have much will to go out and "recruit" Unices who she doesn't deem "useful" - and Leopard-tan just so happened to be that -tan.

[Aurora Borealis]

I'm guessing that she disregards the older OSXs, who likewise disregard the Unices, unless coerced into attending the meetings? As I see the older OSXs as knowing of their Unix ancestry, but seeing themselves as Macs first or only, with Leopard being the first to regard her biological and step-relatives equally. I might see Rhapsody also regarding both sides equally, but is too reclusive to attend the Unix family meetings.

[Chocofreak13]

i don't have much to contribute, but happy birthday system-4. :3

also system-5 was stillborn? ;^;

[Aurora Borealis]

@Choco: One interpretation of her is that she is either a poltergeist or an apparition, that is she never was human. The other is that she was human but died very young, but exactly when she died, if so wasn't specified. That she exists at all in the OS-tan world raises another question: OS-tans representing non-existent OSes?

[Chocofreak13]

well, we had that concept already. GlaDOS-tan, for example?

[Bella]

I think Aurora was asking how they'd fit into the wider OS-tan continuity, if at all?

THEORY: VMS-tan has powerful empathic skills
It strikes me as odd that the personification of an OS with exceptional networking features has always been portrayed as generally emotionally-cold and distant. I'd argue that VMS-tan is actually really attuned to the emotions of others, but that she frequently has to isolate herself / carefully choose her friends because she doesn't want to be dragged down by the bad energy of others.

THEORY: Multics, Unix and VMS-tan all had a chance to be THE most powerful OS-tan...
...but each was thwarted by some emotional flaw.
Multics-tan was over-ambitious and her powers were too great for her to emotionally and physically handle.
Unix-tan was faced with constant conflict, between the part of her personality that desired to be a free, hacker-like OS-tan, and the ambitious side of her personality which hoped to financially capitalize on her skills. Most of her kids inherited her neuroticism in this respect, which ended in disaster for her family and herself.
VMS-tan probably IS most powerful OS-tan alive, but she's too apathetic to assert herself as such. Because of this, she just sort of works quietly in the background, giving exactly zero fucks about what she could do with her powers if she chose to...
And so SAGE's status as god of the OS-tanverse remains unchallenged....