OS-tan theories and disscusion

[Bella]

So I was trying to find some iota of distinction for G(E)COS-tan (she's Multics-sama's nemesis, so she had better be awesome!), so I read this old site detailing it's history. As it turns out, there's not a lot of info but I got a few references:

-GECOS was designed largely in Phoenix, AZ; it's designers were peeved at the Multics project, thinking it too radical.
-GECOS (8 ) had a lot of support in Japan in the late 60's, early 70's.
-A family of Lions was the logo for a (GE?) machine GECOS ran on.
-GECOS and Multics battled each other on a market level for every bit of support and continuation. Some sites running Multics were shut down to use GECOS; and vice-versa. No decisive victory here.

Using this, I think I came up with a neat design:



As you can see, she's wearing kinda a cross between a furisode and some sort of traditional Victorian style gown, with an image of...yes, a phoenix (also that's a feather in her hair decoration). And she has a cross between an obi and a corset

I tried to make her hair sort of lion-like, and I suppose it'll be a light brown color. She'll probably have yellowish colored eyes, I dunno if the glasses will work or not.

She has a katana and is holding...one of those smaller swords (I forgot the name). Somehow I think swordfighting might make a good defense tactic for her, I dunno if she has any "magical" abilities or not. One would think...but after all, perhaps Multics-sama loosing her powers "leveled the playing field" between the two of them (as the two OSs continually were a threat to one another for years.)

Attitude wise, I see GECOS-tan as being quite a traditionalist, with a deep loathing of Multics-sama mostly for the grandiose promises being made along with her, not to mention her emotional state in early life, and the radical ups-and-downs of her creators. I've heard Multics had countless close calls with being killed off, but GECOS didn't quite have this roller coaster ride...at least not at first.

I suppose when GECOS-tan discovered the plans for Unix-sama's creation, she would have wanted to help, mostly because it promised to take everything about Multics and turn it upside down; to abandon the complexity for sheer simplicity. To GECOS-tan, Unix-sama probably would have sounded like the ultimate weapon against her enemy, and, well, I guess she turned out to be.

And I also discovered a veritable family of Multics-sama's:

ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/multics/tvv/general.html#tag14

Now, arguably these could be daughters of Multics-sama; but I think it'd be better if these are just faithful followers of her, if only to avoid a cliched situation (IE, VMS and NT, Multics and Unix, CTSS and ITS, it has to stop somewhere!). I guess one could compare the Multics-likes to followers of a Greek hero cult (similar to ancestor worship, but with no relation).

First off, Primos (aka, PR1MOS, or Multics-in-a-shoebox)-tan.  



I tried to make her look a bit old-fashioned, but still modern (<oxymoron). I see her as having, yup, darker hair, and teal eyes. Leggings are a bit of an 80s-ish touch, and the armband is a reference to Primos's original name: DOS.

On the left, you see she has a marking on her back. It's a tattoo of wings (why do a lot of my characters have tattoos?). She got it as an homage to Multics-sama, I suppose after her death.

I also have ideas for a VOS-tan; I suppose she's dressed somewhat fancily too, but perhaps with a police/military touch (cause VOS is used in a lot of critical applications and is fault-tolerant).

I should also note Apollo Domain, a -tan Siya drew a concept of, is somewhat related to Multics.

Also, AIX Unix is supposedly a lot like Multics. This is right from their site:

The IBM System/38 maps files into the one-level store just like Multics, and so does AIX, down underneath where it is hard to find because it is trying to pretend it is a Unix. Both of these systems are derivatives of IBM FS, which never saw the light of day, but which borrowed the file mapping/one-level-store idea from TSS/360, which in turn got it from Multics.

Bella-san, please don't kill me. ^__________^;

*having run out of IOUs, C-chan files for Chapter 11 Response Bankruptcy*

*sends "collectors" after C-Chan*

Oh fine, way to get a guilt trip a gullible pig into divulging my sad, trauma-inducing story. TvT
Nah, I might do it anyway,... just kinda not publish it openly, you know.

But first, I gotta finish all my outstanding projects,... and as you know, that means a helluva lot of stuff. T___T;

I said nothing -___-

Yeah I saw you stuck with ORIC-tan, and probably a good call given my Block. But you know I do at least have a rough sketch of AtariDOS-tan in my gallery. If you have trouble envisioning her character, think of her physically akin to Al from the Last Exile series, but dressed as a late-19th century magician. Unlike her close friends PETchan and ][-chan, she rarely acts like she's 30 years old, and aside from some very antiquated mannerisms could easily pass for a cute, innocent, playful little girl.

I can't wait to see AtariDOS-tan!

In other words, she's fated to live out the rest of her years as "Old Hag" or "Tortured Soul". I take it we'll have to flip a coin on this one. ^^;

Probably nowadays, yes, but for a long time her and Multics-sama were epic enemies!

Yeah, I was just about to concur that we only mirror real-life scenarios superficially. Windows ME sucked and few people used it relative to XP, but one could easily make the case that the OS-tan artwork says otherwise (and in some instances has... "prodded" people to reinstalling it somewhere). Plus a lot of the scenarios in the Mac Manga and Zerosanity simply make mincemeat of history in favor of bucketloads of humor. ^^'

Creative license is used whenever maximum story impact can be achieved. ^.^

Exactly!

Well you know how I feel about creating too many OS-tans for systems that have hitherto remained unknown to the general readership. But if I can't be helped... well,... I'm all for making GECOS-tan one OS-tan and GCOS-tan the other, and simply have the naming confusion be a reoccuring [potentially humorous] theme in their story. Not unlike what we have planned for Mac OS9-tan and OS-9-tan. ^.^;

It should be noted G(E)COS II, 3 and 8 was the epic rival of Multics. GCOS 6, however, was heavily based on Multics, but geared for minicomputer applications.

Regarding your conjecture, I'd have to say "yes" and "no". Yes, that figures into the story, but no that only represents 1/5 of her hardship, as the majority of the OSes and programs she meets are too busy keeping themselves alive, or ignorant of all things Microsoft up until war broke, to consider punishing her for their plight. There is one emotional scene slated where she offers herself to be beaten with impunity as long as they don't touch her mother. Contrary to peacetime civility, the refugees take her up on her offer, but stop soon after realizing that thrashing a young, defenseless girl doesn't make them feel any better.

OH. SHI-  ;015

The remainder of the story's cruelty centers around three very harrowing experiences. At first when she meets Xenix-sama for the last time only to taste the last vestiges of the UNIX wars, and second where she unintentionally finds herself at the dawn of the commercial OS war in a population center trapped in the crossfire. More horrible than bodily harm to her are the things she actually sees and witnesses that would generally go unrecorded thereafter.

Xenix-sama was still under her company's graces when 2.0-chan was young, right? At any rate, I'm guessing that couldn't have ended well (Unix wars+Xenix-sama+hordes of Xenix-sama haters+2.0-chan=a very bad ending)

Oh man. Those consumer OS wars. I imagine this time couldn't have been rosy for the Mac-tans and their supporters, either (cause weren't they all but wiped out?)

And yet the worst part is reserved for last, after she takes her mother to the relative "safety" of an isolated wasteland (this aspect of the story would borrow heavily from "Grave of the Fireflies"). With her emotions numb, food and clean water scarce, and the non-stop preoccupation with the "baggage" she has to drag around, 2.0-chan starts exhibiting uncharacteristic cruelty and even signs of dementia, culminating ultimately to what she considers the most unforgivable act of her life.

Never seen Grave of the Fireflies, but I've heard it's a real...erm...downer.

I can't even imagine what 2.0-chan did. She seems so...sweet and benevolent. But I suppose after what she went though :..(

This goes a little beyond the usual sob story...

Presumably she's in a very sorry state when Amiga-tan finds her years later, after which a fledgling Binteji Renmei (basically just Amiga-tan and ][-chan) do their best to rehabilitate her and reunite mother and daughter. With the group now 4-member strong, and the war reduced to sporadic proxy skirmishes among superpowers, the story improves from that point onward as they take in more refugees, and begin to rebuild lives and restore dignity as best they can.

So Amiga-san started the Binteji Renmei after the OS wars? I always assumed it had been around for some time...

Added after 5 hours 30 minutes:

OH DEAR GOD! A NEW WIN1.0-TAN:

http://www.nijiura.com/os/src/1199977340881.jpg

Added after 55 seconds:

Funny thing is she doesn't look too radically different from our homegrown 1.0-san

(Edited because of a bad link, and I forgot to mention AIX)

[C-Chan]

WAHT
I did not see'd!

Fufu!  Admittedly, Aurora-sama's Photobucket image is so small, I'd be surprised if you COULD have spotted CIH-tan.  ^^;

So I'm posting at least the storyboard panel where she shows up.  Many pointage onto you if you can correctly guess the identity of the other virus reindeer.

Oh, and Bella-sama.  I'll conveniently swoon now till I think of proper worship for GECOS-sama.  ^____^

*conveniently swoons*

[attachment deleted by admin]

[NejinOniwa]

Eto...ano...um.
There was that chicken virus there that switched hats...and then there's the Rabbit.mimi or whatnot...and hey, what's that yellow/black tape over there, and who's it attached to!? Because if anything, that's gotta be her. I think.
And who the HELL gave a Virus-tan a LIGHTSABER!? HELP!!! *flees*

[Tsubashi]

Fufu! Admittedly, Aurora-sama's Photobucket image is so small, I'd be surprised if you COULD have spotted CIH-tan. ^^;

I was able to see them! ^v^
*Grins Mischievously*

Now naming them... Lemme see. ^.^

Front Row (from Right to Left):
Bliss, Acme, Spida, Cerberus, Butterfly

Back row:
W32/Mimail (aka rabbit.exe), Cascade, Abraxas, CIH

and, of course, in the sleigh is RH-tan! ^__^

[Siya]

I agree with Tsubashi's list except for the following:

Front row, second from the right:  CIH (VonDaab's version)
Back row, furthest virus to the right (the one with the light saber): Lamer Exterminator

[Tsubashi]

I would agree, Lamer Exterminator-tan makes much more sense, but seeing as I was looking for Kenji-san's CIH, the Hair color was a bit off.

I stand corrected ^.^

[C-Chan]

Woohoo!!!  All of you combined got the answers correct!!!!!!!!  ^v^

*tosses massively devalued "New" C-chan Points into crowd*

Yeah, in this picture, I paid homage to Aurora, Gussy, Infinity Zero AND VonDaab, so it's definitely OSC certified.  ^_______^

In other news,... wait,.... wasn't I suppose to be asleep in Amiga-tan's hair?  @__@
[reference to another thread]

Better catch some Zzzzs first, then I'll return to impart wisdom and sap in Bella-sama's threads.  ^___^

*snore*

[Aurora Borealis]

Those consumer OS-wars sure were terrible! I wonder what the Mac-tans had to go through during that time!

So, Apple ][-tan was the first other girl to join the Binteji Renmei? (I thought that ][-tan and Lisa-tan would have joined at the same time)

And another Windows 1.0-tan rendition? Hmm... I have mixed feelings about that one. It's drawn by Esu, my favorite artist on +Nijiura+, and is very pretty (and her outfit is the 1.0 color scheme) but I'm just so used to the other one.

Does it also seem scary that Lamer Exterminator-tan is in the group with a weapon perfect for stabbing those in front of her?

Do you all know what that means? That Lamer Exterminator is out to get you! She cannot be bargained with! She cannot be reasoned with! She does not feel pity, remorse or fear-- AAAAAAH!

*Aurora falls down face first with light saber through her chest*

[Siya]

Do you all know what that means? That Lamer Exterminator is out to get you! She cannot be bargained with! She cannot be reasoned with! She does not feel pity, remorse or fear-- AAAAAAH!

*cries*

Lamer Exterminator-tan is a thing of nightmares.

[NejinOniwa]

Do you all know what that means? That Lamer Exterminator is out to get you! She cannot be bargained with! She cannot be reasoned with! She does not feel pity, remorse or fear-- AAAAAAH!
*Aurora falls down face first with light saber through her chest*

*pulls lightsaber out of Aurora's chest* You were a FOOL to underestimate us. You should have joined the Virus side of the force. Then you would have escaped your fate.

*dark aura and red eyes on Nejin appears*

Fwahahahaha...wHAWHAHAHAGHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*maniacal laughter*

[Siya]

...

No!

*headbutts Nejin*

[C-Chan]

Wow, there's a lot of ground to cover here.  Where to start.....  hmmm.....  

As you can see, she's wearing kinda a cross between a furisode and some sort of traditional Victorian style gown, with an image of...yes, a phoenix (also that's a feather in her hair decoration). And she has a cross between an obi and a corset[/qutoe]

The cross of imagery here is masterfully implemented, and whereas the use of Japanese elements may seem out of place for superifically-Western systems, here it makes beautiful sense and really adds to her fierce, exotic beauty.  I was getting worried that just about everyone in the good ol' days was looking uniformly Victorian, so this serves as acknowledgement that the world of old OSes still had substantial diversity (although nowhere near as much as today).

I tried to make her hair sort of lion-like, and I suppose it'll be a light brown color. She'll probably have yellowish colored eyes, I dunno if the glasses will work or not.

I'd have the glasses only in her present-day rendition.  Just like OS/2, we want her to look as fierce and warrior-like in her prime as possible -- and more-so if a heart-wrenching lion's glare is to be achieved.  

She has a katana and is holding...one of those smaller swords (I forgot the name). Somehow I think swordfighting might make a good defense tactic for her, I dunno if she has any "magical" abilities or not. One would think...but after all, perhaps Multics-sama loosing her powers "leveled the playing field" between the two of them (as the two OSs continually were a threat to one another for years.)

I think you mean a Tantō sword (a Wakizashi is the medium-sized sword, before a full Katana).

As far as magical ability, I'd like to take a passage from Mahou Sensei Negima and apply it here....
Whereas MULTICS-sama would have been very astute in Western-style magic (not unlike the Black/White Magic spells from the Final Fantasy series), GECOS-sama would've been schooled in Eastern magic instead.  She would be skilled at Summonings (e.g., lion spirits), word art (e.g., paper that disables opponents or creates barriers), and weapon enhancement (e.g., having a blade slash send out fire or burst of air).  But because this form of magic is more tactical, and lacks the area-of-effect destructiveness of MULTICS' sorcery, it was not something she could user to vanquish her enemy outright.  (Although in fairness to GECOS-sama, there are specific settings where her magic would've had a decisive advantage of Western magic.)

With MULTIC-sama's power reduced, her comparative advantage is gone along with it, and thus is forced to conduct running battles against GECOS-sama until she's forced out of her last held territory.  

BTW, part of UNIX-sama's emerging greatness, would've been in her combination of both schools of magic (one she learned from GECOS-sama and perfect on her own, the other she absorbed from her mother), as well as her co-emphasis on psionics and physical strength.  Emphasizing an importance in researching and experimenting with all forms of power manifestations (or as we call them, "processors") is in turn what made her family powerful, adaptable and long-sought-after.

Attitude wise, I see GECOS-tan as being quite a traditionalist, with a deep loathing of Multics-sama mostly for the grandiose promises being made along with her, not to mention her emotional state in early life, and the radical ups-and-downs of her creators. I've heard Multics had countless close calls with being killed off, but GECOS didn't quite have this roller coaster ride...at least not at first.

I can't help but wonder if she reminds me a little of OS/2-sama had she (rather than 95-tan) emerged victorious.  '__'

I suppose when GECOS-tan discovered the plans for Unix-sama's creation, she would have wanted to help, mostly because it promised to take everything about Multics and turn it upside down; to abandon the complexity for sheer simplicity. To GECOS-tan, Unix-sama probably would have sounded like the ultimate weapon against her enemy, and, well, I guess she turned out to be.

In addition to what I wrote above, it's that simplicity that ensured her portability (and thus her potential of becoming a great would-be student for GECOS-sama).  Had she been raised under the old, stuffy, complex aristocracy, UNIX-sama would have looked down on anything that was not her learned/acquired skill.

*keeps typing*

Added after 1 hours:


WOW!  That's another great information site that could be right at home in the Wiki.  ^___^

Now, arguably these could be daughters of Multics-sama; but I think it'd be better if these are just faithful followers of her, if only to avoid a cliched situation (IE, VMS and NT, Multics and Unix, CTSS and ITS, it has to stop somewhere!). I guess one could compare the Multics-likes to followers of a Greek hero cult (similar to ancestor worship, but with no relation).

I think that's an excellent choice, and certainly one I'd have opted for too (especially in light of the fact her old "way of life" didn't have much room for deep family ties).  The Greek hero cult is an excellent example, and one replete with similar scenarios.  ^___^

First off, Primos (aka, PR1MOS, or Multics-in-a-shoebox)-tan.

I tried to make her look a bit old-fashioned, but still modern (<oxymoron). I see her as having, yup, darker hair, and teal eyes. Leggings are a bit of an 80s-ish touch, and the armband is a reference to Primos's original name: DOS.

On the left, you see she has a marking on her back. It's a tattoo of wings (why do a lot of my characters have tattoos?). She got it as an homage to Multics-sama, I suppose after her death.

Very very pretty gal, with certifiably Multics-like facial/hair features.  ^.^
Funny how I have her listed as a CIOST member at the Annex,.. certainly she looks the part, and has sufficient motive to not trust Unices.

I don't remember many of your characters having tattoos,... unless you've hidden them here and there.  ^.^

I also have ideas for a VOS-tan; I suppose she's dressed somewhat fancily too, but perhaps with a police/military touch (cause VOS is used in a lot of critical applications and is fault-tolerant).

Her wiki page is equally impressive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratus_VOS

I honestly didn't know she existed, so I'm very impressed.  She sounds as close to a true MULTICS successor as MULTICS herself.  ^.^

I wonder if she wouldn't make an excellent Mainframe-tan too?  Certainly sounds qualified.  ^___^

I should also note Apollo Domain, a -tan Siya drew a concept of, is somewhat related to Multics.

WOOHOO!!!!!  And the family tree starts to get more and more entangled!  ^.^

Also, AIX Unix is supposedly a lot like Multics. This is right from their site:

It's said that family traits skip a generation.  ^v^'

It should be noted G(E)COS II, 3 and 8 was the epic rival of Multics. GCOS 6, however, was heavily based on Multics, but geared for minicomputer applications.

I wonder if that should be just GECOS-sama's successor having an appreciation for MULTICS-sama, or just her living up on the "spoils of war" so to speak.  -v-

Xenix-sama was still under her company's graces when 2.0-chan was young, right? At any rate, I'm guessing that couldn't have ended well (Unix wars+Xenix-sama+hordes of Xenix-sama haters+2.0-chan=a very bad ending)

Correct, Xenix-sama was still around when 2.0-chan and OS/2-san were born, but she left prior to 3.0-chan's birth.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Xenix-sama succumbed to her haters per se.....

....

....But her unit wasn't exactly situated behind the frontlines either, where more favorable "party members" were safely stationed.

I should probably divulge that a very young SCO-chan cameos in this part of the story too, and does offer an explanation why she grew up to be the way she is.

Oh man. Those consumer OS wars. I imagine this time couldn't have been rosy for the Mac-tans and their supporters, either (cause weren't they all but wiped out?)

Correct, although the irony of the scene is that the city in question wasn't even under Mac jurisdiction, but simply suffered the unfortunate crime of being a heavy trade route (it would probably be named after a now-extinct computer retail store.

I have an idea of how UNIX civil war forces would look like, as well as the M$ ones, but the Mac faction is still a bit sketchy.  Since they've always excelled at domestic control, the majority of their technology would have been geared towards that (or, in OS7 and 7.5-tan's case, towards illicit activities and intimidation, usually accompanied by tommy-guns).  This, however, came at the cost of complete disregard for modernizing their actual full-blown military forces.  Plus coupled with the fact that M$ used advanced tactics and equipment acquired from their IBM partnership (and purchased/stolen from more powerful factions) -- as well as a vast array of forbidden technologies that are prohibited today, at least in law only -- and the Macs were woefully unprepared to deal with this impending threat and this new and terrifying style of market warfare.

Whereas the M$ forces would've looked uniquely WWII/Korean War-era, Mac forces would've had an impressively HUGE but incredibly laughable assortment of cavalry, zepplins, WWI-era tanks and halftracks, biplanes, and huge armies of rifleman forced to don ridiculous uniforms and MARCH in unison even while being mowed down by machinegun fire.  And no, they too wouldn't have realized they needed such a thing as a "gas mask".

Never seen Grave of the Fireflies, but I've heard it's a real...erm...downer.

Despite that, I recommend you watch it anyway.  It's a movie worthy of eternal posterity.

I can't even imagine what 2.0-chan did. She seems so...sweet and benevolent. But I suppose after what she went though :..(

This goes a little beyond the usual sob story...

Not sure how many times I can say "I told you so".  ^^;
But don't worry,... Amiga-sama's story is even worse.

So Amiga-san started the Binteji Renmei after the OS wars? I always assumed it had been around for some time...

.
.
.
.
.

Well your half-right.  The Binteji Renmei as we know it was started right after the OS wars.  And sorry, yes, Aurora-dono is right,... Lisa-san was already with ][-chan at the time.  So yeah, that would've technically been 5 founding members.

However, Amiga-sama did try to found a similar organization during the war.  A lot of her story during that era centers around trying to keep that together, and ultimately failing to do so.

As PilotOS-tan puts it so bluntly (more on her later), every single Vintage-tan is "$@#&ed up" in some way.  That's considered a source of strength, but one almost every one of them would wish to do without.  '___'

==========

I have to go now, but will be back later to give my thoughts on the new 1.0-chan.  ^___^

[Bella]

The cross of imagery here is masterfully implemented, and whereas the use of Japanese elements may seem out of place for superifically-Western systems, here it makes beautiful sense and really adds to her fierce, exotic beauty. I was getting worried that just about everyone in the good ol' days was looking uniformly Victorian, so this serves as acknowledgement that the world of old OSes still had substantial diversity (although nowhere near as much as today).

I even read stories about Honeywell trying to market Multics in Japan. But as far as I know, it never took off much outside of North America and Europe...

I'd have the glasses only in her present-day rendition. Just like OS/2, we want her to look as fierce and warrior-like in her prime as possible -- and more-so if a heart-wrenching lion's glare is to be achieved.

She probably won't have glasses then.

I think you mean a Tantō sword (a Wakizashi is the medium-sized sword, before a full Katana).

As far as magical ability, I'd like to take a passage from Mahou Sensei Negima and apply it here....
Whereas MULTICS-sama would have been very astute in Western-style magic (not unlike the Black/White Magic spells from the Final Fantasy series), GECOS-sama would've been schooled in Eastern magic instead. She would be skilled at Summonings (e.g., lion spirits), word art (e.g., paper that disables opponents or creates barriers), and weapon enhancement (e.g., having a blade slash send out fire or burst of air). But because this form of magic is more tactical, and lacks the area-of-effect destructiveness of MULTICS' sorcery, it was not something she could user to vanquish her enemy outright. (Although in fairness to GECOS-sama, there are specific settings where her magic would've had a decisive advantage of Western magic.)

With MULTIC-sama's power reduced, her comparative advantage is gone along with it, and thus is forced to conduct running battles against GECOS-sama until she's forced out of her last held territory.

Never thought about that, but this would fit her quite well.

BTW, part of UNIX-sama's emerging greatness, would've been in her combination of both schools of magic (one she learned from GECOS-sama and perfect on her own, the other she absorbed from her mother), as well as her co-emphasis on psionics and physical strength. Emphasizing an importance in researching and experimenting with all forms of power manifestations (or as we call them, "processors") is in turn what made her family powerful, adaptable and long-sought-after.

Processors?

But yeah, this would fit her well, too.

I can't help but wonder if she reminds me a little of OS/2-sama had she (rather than 95-tan) emerged victorious. '__'

Who? GECOS-tan?

In addition to what I wrote above, it's that simplicity that ensured her portability (and thus her potential of becoming a great would-be student for GECOS-sama). Had she been raised under the old, stuffy, complex aristocracy, UNIX-sama would have looked down on anything that was not her learned/acquired skill.

Hmmm...so GECOS-tan was Unix-sama's teacher....

Could explain a bit of Unix-sama's short temper. I suppose she'd have been quite sequestered in her youth, and I feel GECOS-sensei would be about the last person to learn social skills from.

Somehow I think nobody really taught the young Unix-sama how to do anything not immediately related to her survival...including how to handle her temper (as I've heard early Unix had no crash handling procedures, they'd just restart the system). I think (at least as an adult) Multics-sama would have possessed the spectacular inner strength to  "put on a good face" even when things weren't going so well...

Wait, what was the topic?

I don't remember many of your characters having tattoos,... unless you've hidden them here and there. ^.^

Well...Multics-sama, Primos-tan, I think I gave Tiger-tan an Apple tatto in one of my drawings...so three. But that's three more than anyone else's drawings

Her wiki page is equally impressive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratus_VOS

I honestly didn't know she existed, so I'm very impressed. She sounds as close to a true MULTICS successor as MULTICS herself. ^.^

I wonder if she wouldn't make an excellent Mainframe-tan too? Certainly sounds qualified. ^___^

Unfortunately, I have no ideas for VOS-tan's design : | I suppose she'd be a bit more modern than Primos-tan, but also very ornately dressed...

And I read VOS runs on a server, at least currently.

Just a little fun fact, Stratus (her company) is based in Maynard, Mass., which was also the DEC's homeland. Yet Stratus and DEC weren't really competitors. So maybe they're friendly neighbors XD

It's said that family traits skip a generation. ^v^'

Mmmmhmmm. Tell that to Unix-sama when she find's AIX-tan's secret shrine to Multics-sama.

I wonder if that should be just GECOS-sama's successor having an appreciation for MULTICS-sama, or just her living up on the "spoils of war" so to speak. -v-

Honestly I don't think GECOS-sama and Multics-hugging minicomputer GCOS-tan would be related at all. Maybe it's all just a not-so-hilarious naming coincidence

I wouldn't necessarily say that Xenix-sama succumbed to her haters per se.....

....

....But her unit wasn't exactly situated behind the frontlines either, where more favorable "party members" were safely stationed.

I should probably divulge that a very young SCO-chan cameos in this part of the story too, and does offer an explanation why she grew up to be the way she is.

Hmmm...I never thought of the Unix wars as an explanation for SCO-chan's skewed-up behavior...but now it makes so much sense!

*gets on the ground and pounds fists*

Forgive me SCO-chan! I thought you were but a pompous, preening egomaniac by nature! I never thought you could be emotionally damaged!

But all this talk makes me wonder what Linux-sama was up to at this time. I suppose she was still relatively under-the-radar during the Unix wars, and afterward would have been the perfect point to approach the Unixes with the plans to set up some sort of alliance.

I actually envisioned a scenario where Minix-sensei would have talked Linux-chan (then just a teenager, and pretty much "living off the land") into having a first diplomatic meeting with the Unixes.
I think Linux-chan would have been quite doubtful and uncharacteristically cynical at first, saying if the Unixes would continue a war within their own family, she'd have no chance at gaining acceptance. But Minix-sensei, (being as wise as she is,) would point out that this is exactly the reason she should approach them. After getting a half-hearted agreement out of Linux-chan, they'd set off on an epic quest...

...But that's a whole other story...

Correct, although the irony of the scene is that the city in question wasn't even under Mac jurisdiction, but simply suffered the unfortunate crime of being a heavy trade route (it would probably be named after a now-extinct computer retail store.

...sounds like CompUSA...

I have an idea of how UNIX civil war forces would look like, as well as the M$ ones, but the Mac faction is still a bit sketchy. Since they've always excelled at domestic control, the majority of their technology would have been geared towards that (or, in OS7 and 7.5-tan's case, towards illicit activities and intimidation, usually accompanied by tommy-guns). This, however, came at the cost of complete disregard for modernizing their actual full-blown military forces. Plus coupled with the fact that M$ used advanced tactics and equipment acquired from their IBM partnership (and purchased/stolen from more powerful factions) -- as well as a vast array of forbidden technologies that are prohibited today, at least in law only -- and the Macs were woefully unprepared to deal with this impending threat and this new and terrifying style of market warfare.

I can see where the Windows' are more of the type to put their resources into military technology (in RL terms, marketing). I guess the Macs at that time were quite used to being the only real popular and user friendly group around, and were quite sure nobody would take their place : |

Whereas the M$ forces would've looked uniquely WWII/Korean War-era, Mac forces would've had an impressively HUGE but incredibly laughable assortment of cavalry, zepplins, WWI-era tanks and halftracks, biplanes, and huge armies of rifleman forced to don ridiculous uniforms and MARCH in unison even while being mowed down by machinegun fire. And no, they too wouldn't have realized they needed such a thing as a "gas mask".

Uh oh. That can't have ended well.
And I suppose all those unnamed armies would have been the different files and programs and such?

Not sure how many times I can say "I told you so". ^^;
But don't worry,... Amiga-sama's story is even worse.

No way!  ;015  I always thought of Amiga-san as more of the "really smart person that nobody cared to pay attention to" type.

Though I've never really researched Amiga or Commodore history, so I'm unsure of what exactly happened.

Well your half-right. The Binteji Renmei as we know it was started right after the OS wars. And sorry, yes, Aurora-dono is right,... Lisa-san was already with ][-chan at the time. So yeah, that would've technically been 5 founding members.

However, Amiga-sama did try to found a similar organization during the war. A lot of her story during that era centers around trying to keep that together, and ultimately failing to do so.

I see...so, a lot of the first Vintage group would have been lost, becoming wanderers (or otherwise -__-)...

As PilotOS-tan puts it so bluntly (more on her later), every single Vintage-tan is "$@#&ed up" in some way. That's considered a source of strength, but one almost every one of them would wish to do without. '___'

Hmmm...PilotOS-tan has a salty..but poignant...way with words...

*I love her already!*

But, I think it's inevitable. I don't think any field has less regard for the past than the computer industry. 90% of people will look to what's new, and fail to see any usefulness in an older product. Same goes for companies; they don't care about the consumer, they care about the money to be made : \

[C-Chan]

Okay, I'm back.  ^^

Regarding Esu-san's Windows 1.0-tan, first let me post it here:



If you asked me how I felt, I'd say quite simply I feel proud Esu-san drew this.  For one, it puts us on the same level of people interested in documenting old OS-tans that few people are willing to acknowledge existed.  Furthermore, it also proves he (she?) is still willing to draw original characters (an in fact, one of the first Leopard-tans, no?), and also that he's willing to draw with such consistency and frequency period. If I'm not mistaken, Esu is responsible for all those nice wallpapers we like, of which two of ours are based on.  ^___^

The only thing that worries me is that the few comments received at ++ are geared more towards wondering if there was even a Windows 1.0, and thus heightens the possibility that she'll drop to the level of simple one-shot at least as far as their image board is concerned.

Not here, though, cause we remain steadfast collectors and admirers of our ++ bretheren.  ^^

Now as I recall, a sarcastically-laden question posited nearly a year ago asked whether we'd immediately drop support for any of our homebrewed OS-tans when a Japanese version (read "official") is created.  In this particular instance it's a moot point, given she's technically the second Japanese Windows 1.0-tan design, after this one....

http://ostan-collections.net/imeeji/albums/userpics/10570/1156081551990.jpg

And our homebrewed version is a 50% take on this variant (with the remainder fileld by Aurora's appropriate color detail).  ^^

But assuming this were not the case, what then would be my course of action?

Nothing.

Why?

Because:

A) The question presupposes that we and our work are inherently inferior, and that's simply not the case -- at least not since we decided to take matters into our own hands and start producing things ourselves.  I believe we've done very well over the year, and owe at least a little respect to our own creations.  The thing that always pissed me off the most about the March incident wasn't what the other side said, but rather that so many of the then prominent members

HERE were willing to trash-talk our site, as if all the hard work we put into it wasn't worth the webspace its hosted on.

B) Even among Japanese artists, design conflicts exist, and alternative designs created by one artist may not be taken up by a later one.  This is not so much the case here since the original 1.0-chan's silhoutte leaves a lot to interpretation (and thus the possibility exists Esu-san already knew about it, or even some other ones we haven't encountered yet), but is MOST DEFINITELY the case with Vistans.  ^______^
So if we sacrificed our homebrew for Variant A, then Variant B, C, D, and E came along, and all had little action beyond one-shot scenarios,... then what's the point of dropping our homebrew if there's already a medley of design variants?

C) We should be proud not only to host a lot of the artwork that would otherwise get lost in the imageboard shuffle, but also to offer a medium by which people can make public their OS-tan ideas, especially original ones.  And if design conflicts exist, more often than not we try our best to take the best of borth worlds and combine into one excellent design.  All the Japanese artists I've come into contact with have been very welcoming and respectful thus far, and have enjoyed my takes on CE-chan, Viru-tan, BeOS-tan, 95 OSR 2.5-sama, etc., despite that I naturally embellish a little on the originals.  

D)  And speaking of combining designs, Esu-san's design is (as Bella-san) very compatible to our homebrew.  Her short, outcropped hair is similar to ours, and even though it's not lime green, the picture itself looks as though it was meant to be an old photograph (so those kind of colors would appear duller and tanned).  Besides, maybe her hair could use a small tone-down,... definitely would help enhance her 'age".

And as for her Japanese dress, that's even less of a concern.  I already have ideas for 1980's wear for Xenix-sama, the DOS-tans, the young OS/2-tan, and even 2.0-chan/3:00-chan:



But I had, until now, absolutely no idea how 1.0-san would dress like during the M$/IBM partnership (where tatters would be absolutely forbidden, even on a prototype OS like her).  This not only fits the bill, it's also (very conveniently) orange and yellow.  ^__^[/list]

So yes, this is a great development, as we've lost nothing, but rather gained an awful lot.  What else will we do besides doing what we do best?  

That is taking the best of all worlds, and use it to give something back to all those artists who've sacrificed time and energy entertaining us for free.  ^____^

=============

Okay, last stretch....

Added after 1 hours 27 minutes:

Processors?

But yeah, this would fit her well, too.

Sorry, I actually meant "Architectures".  But yeah, you know what I mean no?  ^^'

Who? GECOS-tan?

Yep,......... just a little.  ^^;

Hmmm...so GECOS-tan was Unix-sama's teacher....

Could explain a bit of Unix-sama's short temper. I suppose she'd have been quite sequestered in her youth, and I feel GECOS-sensei would be about the last person to learn social skills from.

Somehow I think nobody really taught the young Unix-sama how to do anything not immediately related to her survival...including how to handle her temper (as I've heard early Unix had no crash handling procedures, they'd just restart the system). I think (at least as an adult) Multics-sama would have possessed the spectacular inner strength to "put on a good face" even when things weren't going so well...

Wait, what was the topic?

Actually,... I had thought you wanted UNIX-sama to be GECOS-sama's apprentice, not student (that's why I used "would-be").  An apprenticeship is more a union of interest rather than obligation, thus allowing a lot of wiggle room for abuse and resentment that would ultimately backfire badly on GECOS-sama.  As you say, UNIX-sama had to learn 80% of her skills on her own, since she could only count on humiliating defeats from MULTICS-sama, verbal abuse from GECOS-sama, a company that was lucky enough to toss her a bone from time to time, and a society that hated her, shunned her, and price-gouged her whenever possible,  What little of her secrets GECOS-sama taught her helped her keep up the fight, but they were not decisive at all in her final victory.

I imagine that UNIX-sama's ascendancy -- and her quick transformation from rash, insecure youth to short-tempered equal to GECOS-sama -- would be a sweet-as-in-revenge story to tell.  `v'

Just a little fun fact, Stratus (her company) is based in Maynard, Mass., which was also the DEC's homeland. Yet Stratus and DEC weren't really competitors. So maybe they're friendly neighbors XD

DEC-tan's = VMS and Co.
DEC + Stratus VOS + other assorted fringe OSes = CIOST

Make sense to me!  ^.^

Honestly I don't think GECOS-sama and Multics-hugging minicomputer GCOS-tan would be related at all. Maybe it's all just a not-so-hilarious naming coincidence

I'll buy that for a dollar!  ^v^
(= "I agree laughheartedly")

Hmmm...I never thought of the Unix wars as an explanation for SCO-chan's skewed-up behavior...but now it makes so much sense!

*gets on the ground and pounds fists*

Forgive me SCO-chan! I thought you were but a pompous, preening egomaniac by nature! I never thought you could be emotionally damaged!

Now now,... there are still TONS of other OS-tans who did awful things during the old 90's wars, and still came out as fairly decent people (look at 2.0-chan ^^; ).
In her case, it was a combination of that PLUS her mother's legacy she inherited, PLUS her company spoiling her and simultaneously feeding her brain full of the crappiest crap that could be shoveled from a corporate setting.

She may not be entirely at fault for being a pompous, preening egomaniac,... but she deserves to be credited for a little of the blame, if only because she did nothing to pull herself out of that muck.

But all this talk makes me wonder what Linux-sama was up to at this time. I suppose she was still relatively under-the-radar during the Unix wars, and afterward would have been the perfect point to approach the Unixes with the plans to set up some sort of alliance.

I actually envisioned a scenario where Minix-sensei would have talked Linux-chan (then just a teenager, and pretty much "living off the land") into having a first diplomatic meeting with the Unixes.
I think Linux-chan would have been quite doubtful and uncharacteristically cynical at first, saying if the Unixes would continue a war within their own family, she'd have no chance at gaining acceptance. But Minix-sensei, (being as wise as she is,) would point out that this is exactly the reason she should approach them. After getting a half-hearted agreement out of Linux-chan, they'd set off on an epic quest...

...But that's a whole other story...

I've envisioned something similar, although nowhere near as quickly as you're proposing.  Bear in mind that early on in Linux-sama's life, UNIX-sama was still her old self and probably wanted this borderline "copycat" of her eliminated.  Thus Minix-sensei sent Linux-sama off on her journey for three reasons:

1)  To save Linux-sama from her own crazy family.

2)  To keep her far away from the entangled mess of the Old School Unix Civil War, that was already about to get uglier from that point on.

3)  To have her continue her training FAR from any vestiges of war.  

It was important, she believed, for Linux-sama to grow physically, emotionally and spiritually without the taint of war, so that when the day came that she would encounter it, she would be devoid of the helplessness that would affects so many of its victims.  And indeed, modern-day Linux and her followers not only stand their ground bravely to seemingly insurmountable odds, but devote much of their time to training the disenfranchised to help themselves, as well as hunting down the very root causes of war.

For Linux-sama to approach the fractured UNIX family immediately after the war would not have been possible, since the UNIX-tans could barely trust eachother at that point, let alone a dinky little clone with no power compared to their own.  Plus the post UNIX War era was still filled with some violence, given that a lot of their war-torn and effectively abandoned former territories were being usurped by NT-san's forces.  And much to their chagrin, a lot of these territories did not put uprise against the invaders, but rather welcomed their new Windows masters.

I believe the Linux-Unix Consortium emerged only in recent years, once the Linux-tans (or the "Linux Union") have grown in strength and power, and rival the tattered, stagnant remains of the old UNIX family.  By then, UNIX-sama and Linux-sama are good friends, and Minix-sensei an excellent mediator -- but even then, as you know, the alliance is shaky at best due to the severe conflict in ideology.

I can see where the Windows' are more of the type to put their resources into military technology (in RL terms, marketing). I guess the Macs at that time were quite used to being the only real popular and user friendly group around, and were quite sure nobody would take their place : |

*smokes pipe*

Yeah, in the olden days, conflicts were fought with jousting, tournaments, civilized gunfights with well-groomed armies, and climactic ship-to-ship exchanges.  The Mac-tans GLORIOUS army was a sight in its days (and great for parades), but was mostly a show of strength since they never effectively put it to much use.  Even skirmishes with the Commodore-tans were a lot more civil, with battles taking place at much smaller scales, opposing generals getting together to chat of jolly ol' times and complimenting one another's tactics, armies taking a break at Christmas to celebrate with one another, and even ransoms.... RANSOMS!!! ...for huge swaths of captured soldiers and generals who regardless are given decent treatment.

It was a very different, crazy, kooky, but ultimately quite trusting world that probably will never return.

In any event, yes its also true that the Macs, led at the time by some very shortsighted people, became not only too overconfident, but also shortsighted themselves.

Uh oh. That can't have ended well.
And I suppose all those unnamed armies would have been the different files and programs and such?

Correct.  Certainly gives the term "file conversion" and "deleting" files a whole new meaning, no?  

I don't want to say it's entirely the fault of their hardware, since good tacticians could make wonders happen even with biplanes and rifles.  Heck, the present-day Linux-tans can vanquish an entire modern army armed with spears and shields!!  (but yes, with the help of Open Sourcery of course).

But I definitely want to emphasize that it was poor tactics that lost the day over machinery -- heck, I'm sure even something as distasteful as digging trenches would have been forbidden in the early stages of the OS War.  The Macs were slow to change, and only barely started putting on their batteries when they lost their capital (I imagine "Desktopia") and their greatest champions (including System 7-tan) got vanquished.  With 95% of their forces lost, they consolidated everything they had to defending their old art district, which had terrain in their favor, a very hardy and proud populace, and enough resources to sustain their rather-late modernization drive.  

(and coincidentally, its in the same district where ][-chan's farm and current site of the Binteji Renmei is, thus also ensuring their survival]

Here their standoff worked, and they were able to stall for time until their old leader made His return, instituting sweeping changes that would propel the Mac-tans and their forces into the 21st century (and yes, this included getting some backchannel support from the UNIX-tans, as well as from other new allies).

No way! I always thought of Amiga-san as more of the "really smart person that nobody cared to pay attention to" type.

Though I've never really researched Amiga or Commodore history, so I'm unsure of what exactly happened.

Well sadly, in those kinds of instances there's no such thing as a "smart person" or "someone nobody cares to pay attention to".  If anything, RL history shows they're usually primary targets precisely for those reasons.

Since a lot of Amiga's history in this period involves her bouncing around from company to company, skirting oblivion,... I take a lot of artistic license having her actively help disenfranchised program-tans (mostly war orphans, so to speak).  It's certainly in her character to do so, but likely reflects little history-wise.

I see...so, a lot of the first Vintage group would have been lost, becoming wanderers (or otherwise -__-)...

Let's just say you develop a genuine admiration for Amiga-san's strength of will, and also an understanding why she's presently obsessed with being useful.  

But its with cases like these that I often wonder whether I should even bother to at least write these stories (let alone develop mangas for them, which to be honest is physically impossible for me alone).  I develop these as such because I don't want to glorify the aspect of war -- but I also don't want to sound like a sick bastard either.

I often think that, if I can devote time to writing these, I'd much rather devote it to writing more uplifting stories that still carry with them political messages.  

For example, my proposed love story between Amiga-san and ReactionGUY-kun that has a very epic ending.

Or that Miyazaki-style story of DSL-kun in 95-tan (yes, I said "in"), which would be rather epic as well.

But, I think it's inevitable. I don't think any field has less regard for the past than the computer industry. 90% of people will look to what's new, and fail to see any usefulness in an older product. Same goes for companies; they don't care about the consumer, they care about the money to be made : \

Sadly correct.

I think that paradign shifts tremendously with open source,... and as you can see yourself, you start to acquire a new found appreciation for things you might have unintentionally glossed over.

Precisely because open source is supported by a non-corporate community, and because its rooted in appreciation for older hardware, it has the most potential for stopping the indiscriminate destruction of older systems that are still good enough to be used by other people around the world.

That holds true story-wise, but sadly this is 20 years too late for a lot of vintage-tans.  While the Linuces actively help them, there's no shortage of remorse, especially on behalf of Linux-sama, that she was not able to protect them when the worst of it was occuring.

Hmmm...PilotOS-tan has a salty..but poignant...way with words...

*I love her already!*

I actually have PilotOS-tan sketched, but not vectorized.  Can't wait to, though, since she's perhaps the only foul-mouthed character among the Binteji Renmei (despite that, like most other Vintage-tans, looks like a youngish girl).  Personality-wise, she's a blend of MOMO from Xenosaga, Cid from Final Fantaxy VII, and Marco from Porco Rosso -- or in other words, a mess.

She used to have a flotilla of planes, but can now barely maintain one what with only a pitiful shadow of her former salary.  She has a short-fuse for a temper, always packs a pistol, has little good to say about anything modern, and generally keeps to herself.  She flies errands for the Vintage-tans and well often give advice to her younger peers, but neither of which is devoid of colorful language or poignant guilt-tripping.

She does mellow out with fine music, but her definition of fine music is stuff like "Fantastic Plastic Machine" -- which has been known to cause nausea for C64-tan (hence why she always pumps up the volume with her around).

She doesn't mind putting herself in harm's danger to help others, but generally-speaking her only close friend is PCDOS-tan (and yes, trading insults during a flight is their favorite pastime).

[Bella]

Let's just say you develop a genuine admiration for Amiga-san's strength of will, and also an understanding why she's presently obsessed with being useful.

But its with cases like these that I often wonder whether I should even bother to at least write these stories (let alone develop mangas for them, which to be honest is physically impossible for me alone). I develop these as such because I don't want to glorify the aspect of war -- but I also don't want to sound like a sick bastard either.

I often think that, if I can devote time to writing these, I'd much rather devote it to writing more uplifting stories that still carry with them political messages.

I do agree, if I ever did a manga, or even a fanfic or story about, say, the vintage-tans (don't hold your breath), I'd probably not get into their past much, if at all; only that something bad did happen and that they're trying to leave that in the past and look to the future.

Maybe that's why I like the older era of OS-tans more. It seems things were a lot more even keeled...sure, there was sporadic violence, but for the most part I don't think there were any really big incidents (aka, monopolies). I think things would have been a lot more about fairness and some diplomacy. But I could be wrong; it just seems a lot of OSs had a longer shelf life and were designed and marketed accordingly.

That said, I also agree that sap has reached critical mass here...we don't want another incident like the great maple syrup explosion of Boston (yes, it happened. I kid you not)  

I'll reply to the rest tomorrow, cause right about now I'm bushed...