On Topic[less]

[Nichi]

Looking it up on Wikiped, it ended April 8, 2014 ^^;
(I hope you're not mad at me for pointing this out ;_; )

[Bella]

In reality XP-tan has set off on a life of wandering the eastern seaboard, getting in fights with virus-tans and meeting long lost relatives.

[Goujer (she/her)]

I always sort of imagined it like XP-tan comes out of a van in wheel chair and is wheeled down a path to a retirement home where aged 2K-tan and ME-tan are sitting on a porch. The nurses wheel XP next to the two and there's a caption that says "Together Again". Bella's way sounds way more epic though.

[Nichi]

TBH I never really explained what happens to -tans after end of support; the closest was in EOTM, with the Reaper being sent to assassinate those that are outdated...but 2k sealed away the Reaper at the end of that story, so now there's no system in place to deal with that
(Besides, I think the -tans age differently from us. I mean, 3.1-tan is supposed to be one of the oldest of the Windows-tans, but she looks like a kid. Likewise, Unix-tan is still youthful, even with being one of the oldest -tans that's still alive)

[Aurora Borealis]

There aren't any deceased Linuces, but there are a few deceased Unices, including Amiga Unix (AMIX) and XENIX. Also so far at least, there aren't any deceased Windows-tans, unless some of the prototype Windows-tans are?

The way I see it, OS-tans that aren't supported anymore just don't get support from their company anymore to keep their defenses up to date against malware and security threats; they're left to fend for themselves. Their survival is less of an issue if they're still part of a faction, like the Windows or Mac Houses, or if they have a large enough following.

The survival of discontinued OSes that don't have a faction is less certain. Some of the Windows-tans are wanderers who live on their own for most, or all of their lives. If they've lived for as long as they have as wanderers left to fend for themselves, they must all be good survivalists.

However, there's a contradiction with the Windows-tans: All of the Windows OSes from 1.0 to 95 OSR 2.5 had their support dropped at the end of 2001. Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.2, 95 OSR 2.1 and OSR 2.5 all were exiled or left the Windows Family during the OS Wars, or shortly after it (as with the OSR 2.x sisters). I'm not sure about Windows 97, and the other unreleased Windows OSes, and if they were ever part of the Windows Family faction.

In my headcanon, I also envision that there are a few characters who by all counts, should've died long ago, but are still alive, because they've somehow cheated death many times, but know that they could die any day.

[Chocofreak13]

@aurora: i always figured the unreleased and 97 were, like 3.2, wanderers. that's the only one that makes sense, anyway, since i've never seen them depicted in canon artwork with anyone else regularly (sans 97 a few times, so methinks she may have dropped in on Yamada once or twice).
@lego: yours sounds so sweet, though. ;^;
@pent: i'm not mad, but i need to think of a new porn folder joke now. :0

[Bella]

Bella's way sounds way more epic though.

Wow what a good fanfic.

Thanks!

(Besides, I think the -tans age differently from us. I mean, 3.1-tan is supposed to be one of the oldest of the Windows-tans, but she looks like a kid. Likewise, Unix-tan is still youthful, even with being one of the oldest -tans that's still alive)

Oh, absolutely. I can't speak for other people's canons but in mine, Stew's, Aurora's, C-chan's and others -tans all tend to have different maturity levels, they physically mature to a certain point and then ... they don't age past that. Remember that maturing (growing as much as you will in your lifetime) and aging (accumulating cellular damage) are different things, so it sort of makes sense that -tans wouldn't age like humans if they can indeed regenerate physically.

I can't explain the rationale for Windows 3.1-tan being young-looking (loli appeal?) but in the case of Unix-tan it was a deliberate choice on the part of C-chan to represent how simple and stripped-down Bell Labs Unix was.

The way I see it, OS-tans that aren't supported anymore just don't get support from their company anymore to keep their defenses up to date against malware and security threats; they're left to fend for themselves. Their survival is less of an issue if they're still part of a faction, like the Windows or Mac Houses, or if they have a large enough following.

The survival of discontinued OSes that don't have a faction is less certain. Some of the Windows-tans are wanderers who live on their own for most, or all of their lives. If they've lived for as long as they have as wanderers left to fend for themselves, they must all be good survivalists.

Completely agreed, I was going to say just this but you beat me to it. End of support can be disastrous for an OS-tan, but those with large, devoted user bases (as is the case with a lot of hobby retrocomputer-tans), third-party support (quite a few big iron OS-tans) or both (the DEC-tans) stand a much better chance of survival after discontinuation.

In my headcanon, I also envision that there are a few characters who by all counts, should've died long ago, but are still alive, because they've somehow cheated death many times, but know that they could die any day.

SAGE-tan is probably the best example of this particular phenomena...

Well, I guess "immortal" isn't the right term for Unices/Linuces. I guess the correct term is "ageless."

In my canon all OS-tans are technically ageless and able to achieve immortality, but generally end up dying due to "disuse" — since my -tans' health is generally a function of how many users they have (see Aurora's post and my reply to her). That said, the Unices and Linuces are particularly immune to dying in this manner due to peculiarities of their code & user-base.

[Chocofreak13]

poor SAGE has so many mental issues she'll likely never die due to being protected by her own demons. ;v;

[Nichi]

With my canon, the only confirmed death thus far is ME-tan...which I admit it something I have regrets over doing, but TBH I felt it was the only way for the plot of that story to work...but at least, IMO, she put up one hell of a fight before she finally fell.

As far as beta OSes, Neptune is still very much alive, but has her powers sealed away, while Odyssey is in the care of 2k-kun (Which is something that will eventually be elaborated on in a short story).

Maybe I could explore further into it eventually; I mean, Bella did mentioned a while back that Multics has been resurrected via emulation, so maybe some story on that, elaborating on how death works?

[Chocofreak13]

i think that's an important thing for each of us to explore in our own canons. :0

[Goujer (she/her)]

Here's a question, who is light blue hair in this twitter post:
https://twitter.com/windows8_ai/status/549819616088707072

Windows 10?

[Chocofreak13]

no. as it is we don't even know if the blonde one is claudia. could be IE, but actually they premiered Inori before the 8-tans, so that's doubtful. she MIGHT be windows phone. looks a bit similar.

@kodomo: Cairo survived in the form of components absorbed by other OSes. ik Vista had some, idk if they carried over to future OSes. further research needed.

[Chocofreak13]

=w=

Microsoft doesn't have any genderflips. and given that those are the 'official' windows 8 cosplayers, that has to be an official event. meaning that CAN'T be Nanao.

[Nichi]

She is the -tan for Windows Atsiv; a super-secret project taking place in the trunk of Steve Ballmer's Bentley, which will kill the competition by making them laugh themselves to death. It's flawless! : D

[Chocofreak13]

oh goddammit pent. xD