OS-tan theories and disscusion

[Aurora Borealis]

That is so cool! She almost looks like she is about to emerge from the paper!
---

I return to this thread with an assortment of OS-tan concepts!

first up...

MenuetOS-tan (aka: MeOS)

-fits in a single 1.44 MB floppy disk but is a complete and modern OS
-very fast, easy to install
-is Free/Open Source (32-bit version) or Freeware (64-bit version)
-not object oriented (each app has its own distinct look)
-very little hardware support
-is not based from any OS (was made entirely from scratch)
-color scheme: metallic silver, metallic blue, dark red, with hints of yellow
-futuristic in appearance
-all written in assembly and facilitates easy to use assembly programming
-does have a daughter OS: KolibriOS

character notes: Very introverted, fast, straightforward and efficient. Is a minimalist. Has been a loner for almost her whole life as Menuet OS had not had any OS-tan relatives until the arrival of her daughter, KolibriOS-tan. Wields some kind of lightweight and futuristic weapon; her outfit is a combination of old-fashioned (or at least classy) and futuristic with lots of silver, metallic blue and dark red. Is aligned with the CIOST

AtheOS-tan

-color scheme: teal, grey, sky blue
-an Amiga-like OS
-was originally intended to be an Amiga OS clone
-abandoned in 2002, superseded by Syllable
-free and open source
-development started in 1994
-last release: 0.3.7
-comparable to Sky OS and Menuet OS as hobby OSes

character notes: An Amiga fangirl?! (If that's so, she would NOT get along with Dragonfly BSD-tan!) Is Syllable-tan's mother or older sister. Is a wanderer since her abandonment.

Spring OS-tan

-developed by Sun in the early 1990's
-development faded in mid-1990's
-could allow several OSes to be run at the same time
-divorced from its Unix roots
-some code and ideas from Spring OS made it into Java and Solaris
-first released in 1993-1994

character notes: Solaris-tan's sister, died young but knew Solaris-tan long enough to teach her some new things. She was also very generous but possibly considered a traitor to other Unices for not staying true to her roots. Dressed mainly in purple and orange with lots of flowers and spring-shaped jewelry.

GENIAC-tan (aka: "Genius Almost-Automatic Computer")

Also represents Geniac variants:
   Tyniac (Tiny Almost-Automatic Computer)
   Weeniac (Weeny Almost-Automatic Computer)
   Brainiac (Brain-Imitating Almost-Automatic Computer)

-is small, affordable, digital and user programmable
-limited in use
-first released in 1955 and is one of the oldest personal computers
-Could play Tic-Tac-Toe, convert binary to decimal, do addition
-used electric rotary switches

character notes: GENIAC-tan was extremely intelligent (A brainiac! A genius!) but was frail, could not completely function on her own (was only almost automatic. Was always accompanied by at least one of her caretakers) and was limited in things she was able to do but what she could do, she could do well! She liked to play simple games- her favorite being Tic-Tac-Toe.

Very childlike (physical age of 5-7 years old, height in the 3ft. range) in appearance and wore a very old-fashioned dress or school uniform. Her outfit was brown + white.

[Bella]

That's a neat animation! I really like how you shaded it...

And hey! Wow, some new OS-tan concepts courtesy of Aurora-san! Let's see...

MenuetOS-tan (aka: MeOS)

-fits in a single 1.44 MB floppy disk but is a complete and modern OS
-very fast, easy to install
-is Free/Open Source (32-bit version) or Freeware (64-bit version)
-not object oriented (each app has its own distinct look)
-very little hardware support
-is not based from any OS (was made entirely from scratch)
-color scheme: metallic silver, metallic blue, dark red, with hints of yellow
-futuristic in appearance
-all written in assembly and facilitates easy to use assembly programming
-does have a daughter OS: KolibriOS

character notes: Very introverted, fast, straightforward and efficient. Is a minimalist. Has been a loner for almost her whole life as Menuet OS had not had any OS-tan relatives until the arrival of her daughter, KolibriOS-tan. Wields some kind of lightweight and futuristic weapon; her outfit is a combination of old-fashioned (or at least classy) and futuristic with lots of silver, metallic blue and dark red. Is aligned with the CIOST

Those are some interesting ideas. I really like the idea for the retro-futuristic outfit and color scheme! I know I've read about MeOS as some point, cause I remember trying to think up a design for a KolibriOS-tan (hyperactive hummingbird-girl, anyone?).

AtheOS-tan

-color scheme: teal, grey, sky blue
-an Amiga-like OS
-was originally intended to be an Amiga OS clone
-abandoned in 2002, superseded by Syllable
-free and open source
-development started in 1994
-last release: 0.3.7
-comparable to Sky OS and Menuet OS as hobby OSes

character notes: An Amiga fangirl?! (If that's so, she would NOT get along with Dragonfly BSD-tan!) Is Syllable-tan's mother or older sister. Is a wanderer since her abandonment.

Again, again, I read about AtheOS but never could think up a good designs. I also figured she'd be a relative of Syllable-tan...

And yeah, I do think that the both of them would be Miggy fangirls

Spring OS-tan

-developed by Sun in the early 1990's
-development faded in mid-1990's
-could allow several OSes to be run at the same time
-divorced from its Unix roots
-some code and ideas from Spring OS made it into Java and Solaris
-first released in 1993-1994

character notes: Spring OS-tan died young but knew Solaris-tan long enough to teach her some new things. She was also very generous but possibly considered a traitor to other Unices for not staying true to her roots. Dressed mainly in purple and orange with lots of flowers and spring-shaped jewelry.

Hmmmm....this is news to me; I have heard of Spring OS, but never knew the details of it. Good work

I hate to be a wild conspiracy theorist, but...considering that Sun OS (and therefore Solaris) contains some Spring OS source, might Spring OS-tan have been either Solaris-tan's mother or mentor? This could add some Sap to Solaris-san's backstory, because this might mean that she decided to become an open-sourceress to avoid her mentor (or mom's?!) fate.

I wonder what you mean by "divorced from its Unix roots" though. I have to wiki Spring OS and see what comes up...

GENIAC-tan (aka: "Genius Almost-Automatic Computer")

Also represents Geniac variants:
Tyniac (Tiny Almost-Automatic Computer)
Weeniac (Weeny Almost-Automatic Computer)
Brainiac (Brain-Imitating Almost-Automatic Computer)

-is small, affordable, digital and user programmable
-limited in use
-first released in 1955 and is one of the oldest personal computers (only seconded by the Simon, released in 1950)
-Could play Tic-Tac-Toe, convert binary to decimal, do addition
-used electric rotary switches

character notes: GENIAC-tan is extremely intelligent (A brainiac! A genius!) but is frail, cannot completely function on her own (is only almost automatic. Is always accompanied by at least one of her caretakers) and very limited in usefulness but what she could do, she could do well! She likes to play simple games- her favorite being Tic-Tac-Toe. She is likely deceased.

Appears very childlike (physical age of 5-7 years old, height in the 3ft. range) and wears a very old-fashioned dress or school uniform. Her outfit is brown + white.

Tic-Tac-Toe? Everybody knows that game can't be won! (I just watched WarGames, it had a Tic-Tac-Toe playing computer too. That was trying to start a nuclear war.)

Onto topic, this description of her sounds wonderful! She almost sounds like an ancient MSDOS-tan or something. I do agree she's probably dead now, though...

....

BTW, Aurora, I'm amused by your new avatar...in a scary kinda way

[Aurora Borealis]

Those are some interesting ideas. I really like the idea for the retro-futuristic outfit and color scheme! I know I've read about MeOS as some point, cause I remember trying to think up a design for a KolibriOS-tan (hyperactive hummingbird-girl, anyone?).

KolibriOS-tan the hyperactive hummingbird-girl... I like that! I also imagine she would dress very vibrantly with lots of feathers in her outfit and hair, and that she would love to dress up!

Again, again, I read about AtheOS but never could think up a good designs. I also figured she'd be a relative of Syllable-tan...

And yeah, I do think that the both of them would be Miggy fangirls

I couldn't really think of anything either. I know she'd have some resemblance to Syllable-tan. And maybe include a slight resemblance to Amiga-tan as well.

Hmmmm....this is news to me; I have heard of Spring OS, but never knew the details of it. Good work

I hate to be a wild conspiracy theorist, but...considering that Sun OS (and therefore Solaris) contains some Spring OS source, might Spring OS-tan have been either Solaris-tan's mother or mentor? This could add some Sap to Solaris-san's backstory, because this might mean that she decided to become an open-sourceress to avoid her mentor (or mom's?!) fate.

Spring OS is much younger than Solaris so she would have been Solaris-tan's younger sister who also taught her big sis some things and assumed the role as her mentor as well.

But I completely aggree with Solaris-tan becoming an open-sourceress to avoid Spring OS-tan's fate.

I wonder what you mean by "divorced from its Unix roots" though. I have to wiki Spring OS and see what comes up...

Not completely sure either. It was in the wiki article for Spring OS.

Tic-Tac-Toe? Everybody knows that game can't be won! (I just watched WarGames, it had a Tic-Tac-Toe playing computer too. That was trying to start a nuclear war.)

Speaking of "Wargames", did you know that the protagonist used an IMSAI 8080 to hack that military supercomputer?

I've even got a description and sketched design in progress for an IMSAI 8080-tan!:

IMSAI 8080-tan is possibly Altair 8800-tan's clone and were each other's main competitors and were mortal enemies. As I mentioned when I introduced Altair-tan, she was at a disadvantage but was so focused on knocking IMSAI 8080-tan out of the competition instead of improving herself that she caused her own demise. IMSAI 8080-tan is much stronger and hardier than her rival (The IMSAI 8080 was also more successful and outlasted the Altair by several years) and is aligned with the CIOST.

Appearance-wise, she has silver hair and dark purple eyes, dresses eccentrically yet casually with her outfit having lots of red and blue in it. She is also short too, only as tall as Altair-tan (137 cm tall, or 4'6'') but don't be fooled by her short stature and eccentric appearance- she is a lot tougher and more professional than she looks!

In her prime, she was an engineer for the military and has even devised schemes for mind control (a reference to hacking, which is also a reference to the movie "WarGames" in which the protagonist used an IMSAI 8080 to hack a military supercomputer. The IMSAI 8080 was also used for scientific applications, military and government applications and computer sciences; as well as small businesses, data communication, banking and insurance programs and even for personal computer systems). She retired from her military career after her demise from the competition due to more popular competitors (i.e: Apple ][-tan) as well as faulty 'upgrades'. She knew that the competitors were inevitable but thought the faulty upgrades were a ploy by her second company to eliminate her for falling behind and losing support from the home users (since her competitors were so much user-friendlier. Although she still did have a lot of support from the military, the government, top scientists, and high-ranking business people; they were only a small percentage of the people, with home users being the majority).

Now she is a businesswoman and the messenger for the CIOST to keep members in contact with each other and arrange meetings when need be. Also, although she usually does not have a lot of money, she strives to the the benefactor for small businesses in need. Oh, and she has the recurring desire to return to her days as a super powerful military engineer! But, despite being rather maniacal and crazy, she is actually very unselfish.

Onto topic, this description of her sounds wonderful! She almost sounds like an ancient MSDOS-tan or something. I do agree she's probably dead now, though...

Back on to the topic of Geniac-tan, sadly I now consider her deceased. The Geniac doesn't have a cult following like some other early personal computers do, nor do I know if there are enough surviving units to keep the system alive. Which is a bummer because she had so much wisdom to share with the world, if she was able to!

BTW, Aurora, I'm amused by your new avatar...in a scary kinda way

Thanks! It's from a scene in the first "Pretty Cure" series! The original PreCure is the best of all the PreCure series, IMO!

[C-Chan]

Alright, think I'm almost done with legacy responses.  ^^;

I dunno if I'll open that can of worms; I always supposed the older mainframe-tans were a lot more...figuratively and literally...down to earth than their modern counterparts. I do think only the newer generations of mainframe-tans fancy themselves goddesses.

Cause if you think about it, back in the 60s, nothing was particularly special about mainframes--they were just computers. But nowadays with so many PCs, servers and minicomputers, mainframes do seem more exotic and rare in a way.

Oooh,... you sure about that?  ^^;
I know they're function is small in comparison to modern systems,.... but the PHYSICAL SIZE OF THOSE SYSTEMS....



....

I dunno,... might have to challenge that.  I always viewed them as the transition of Titans -> Gods -> Demi-Gods,... after a while, it just gets pointless to manifest oneself as being physically large, especially as the "smaller" OS-tan world gains in size and relevance and self-sufficiency.  That's why, in my future "romp" of the OS-tan world, my beloved giant Mainframe-tans are all but extinct.

While I do agree that they would not have thought themselves as goddesses, that would have been the impression once mini and micro personal computers started showing up.  

To use a more contemporary example, neither ME-tan nor XP-tan think of themselves as goddesses (except perhaps beauty-wise?), since they power the kind of personal computers that 99% of the world uses.  However, they do realize that they are MUCH larger and MUCH more powerful than CE-tan, which still runs on only a smattering of personal electronic devices.

However, the way the computer world is evolving, it wouldn't be long before the likes of CE-chan or Palm-chan or Symbian-chan or all matter of embedded Linux-tans take over the title of the world's majority population.  In this scenario, these cute little lilliputians become the new "normal", and the likes of ME-tan and XP-tan would find themselves as the new titans.

But then again, it is a moot point, as the size difference among Guild members is almost purely artificial.  In fairness, it might not have been a "fad" to appear that large until AFTER the micro/mini computers started appearing, when it was important to drill the fact into the newcomer's heads that they were bigger and better.  ^^;

FYI, there's another system I just read about called TSS 8 that was made at DEC (and is the ancestor of RSTS).

Oooh, just keep piling on the ancestors.  ^___^

Mole-asses? Mole-asses?! You mean, the business end of a mole?! WTF?!?!?!?

Made you blink!  ^.^

Never mind that, why am I wanting to draw her and Multics-sama in their uber-rich versions of schoolgirl outfits O___o

You mean the schoolgirl outfits that have enough jewelry to take a small nation out of debt, and are usually adorned with Angora fluffy socks?  ^___^'

*SQUEALS*

Okay, I'm sold.  Gimme.  ^^

Joke's on you, now you're stuck on a psychotic unstable nut-case

Correction,... a GIANT unstable nut-case.  ^.^

*coos with delight and hugs TSS/360-tan's leg*

*SLAP*

*gets swatted and squashed like a mosquito*

character notes: Very introverted, fast, straightforward and efficient. Is a minimalist. Has been a loner for almost her whole life as Menuet OS had not had any OS-tan relatives until the arrival of her daughter, KolibriOS-tan. Wields some kind of lightweight and futuristic weapon; her outfit is a combination of old-fashioned (or at least classy) and futuristic with lots of silver, metallic blue and dark red. Is aligned with the CIOST

Yep, just checked... MenuetOS-tan is in the CIOST roster.  ^.^
And from the sound of it, another excellent fighter to assist VMS-sama.  Not a friend per se, but loyal and to-the-point.

character notes: An Amiga fangirl?! (If that's so, she would NOT get along with Dragonfly BSD-tan!) Is Syllable-tan's mother or older sister. Is a wanderer since her abandonment.

Actually, I was bouncing back and forth the idea of conceiving an AtheOS-tan way back then.  Eventually I chose against it for reasonx XYZ, but here she appears once more.  ^.^

Probably would opt to make her Syllable-tan's older sister.  Maybe she's not a full fangirl, but probably a strong admirer of Amiga-san, who perhaps at one point of her life helped her in a time of need (and thus AtheOS-tan has felt grateful ever since).  Not to say DragonFlyBSD-chan wouldn't hold your suspicions, though.  ^^;

character notes: Solaris-tan's sister, died young but knew Solaris-tan long enough to teach her some new things. She was also very generous but possibly considered a traitor to other Unices for not staying true to her roots. Dressed mainly in purple and orange with lots of flowers and spring-shaped jewelry.

Aww,... sorry about keeping her on the Deceased list.... ;___;

Now that you mention it, she kinda sorta sounds like the Sun version of Apple I-san.  That would kinda make Solaris-sama akin to a Lisa-chan then, and might also explain a bit of her own internal bitterness she feels.  Given the coldness of the Unices of that era, I doubt any of them offered themselves as a substitute "older sister" for Solaris-sama.  ^^

character notes: GENIAC-tan was extremely intelligent (A brainiac! A genius!) but was frail, could not completely function on her own (was only almost automatic. Was always accompanied by at least one of her caretakers) and was limited in things she was able to do but what she could do, she could do well! She liked to play simple games- her favorite being Tic-Tac-Toe.

Very childlike (physical age of 5-7 years old, height in the 3ft. range) in appearance and wore a very old-fashioned dress or school uniform. Her outfit was brown + white.

Oooh,... the name sounds familiar,...

....

AH YES, I remember where we saw that last!  ^___^

http://www.blinkenlights.com/pc.shtml

Actually that still opens up the active debate of computer hardware vs OS software, but why not.  That'd certainly give me the excuse I need to lobby for giant Mainframe-tans apearing earlier rather than later.  ^.^

For some reason, I envision her as being rather puppet-like -- although not made out of wood, she can't move or function without having someone (such as a caretaker) hold her handle.  She'd be a kind of anti-Pinocchio -- she's a real girl and a smart one at that, but sadly is bound by strings forever.

I can even think up some sap in that regards.  She might have been very famous in her day, but after her caretaker outgrew her for newer more advanced systems, she was left in an attic motionless and forgotten for many decades.

The one day some young vintage-tans, searching for spare parts in the antic, discover her and nearly fall back in fright as she comes to life the moment someone holds her handle.  GENIAC-san would be happy and cheery at first, but quickly grows sad and frightened as she realizes almost 50 years have passed and the world and friends she once knew are long gone.  Moreover, she develops a terrible fear of going back to "sleep", as she dreads the thought of waking up another several decades later.

It's hard at first for the Vintage-tans to "pass her around", trying to help her get used to the modern world while still trying to live out their own lives -- in a way it ends up yielding mixed results, as GENIAC-san ends up feeling like an old, tired dog on a leash.  Fortunately EXEC-sama, who already feels like she contributes little, gladly volunteers to be GENIAC-chan's caretaker.

Her infinite patience and motherly demeanor help the younger-minded GENIAC -- but the fact that EXEC-sama is actually OLDER is also valuable as she's able to talk to the GENIAC-chan using words, imagery and memories that the two can relate to.  Over time the two become great friends -- and while there is still some work to be done to calm GENIAC-chan's phobias, at least now she's more comfortable in her interactions with the newer girls.

Certainly she feels eager to spend time chatting with other fellow "geniuses" (=C64-tan), even if she usually ends up offering more obstructive questions than constructive answers.  ^^;

I hate to be a wild conspiracy theorist, but...considering that Sun OS (and therefore Solaris) contains some Spring OS source, might Spring OS-tan have been either Solaris-tan's mother or mentor? This could add some Sap to Solaris-san's backstory, because this might mean that she decided to become an open-sourceress to avoid her mentor (or mom's?!) fate.

I see there's no shortage of sap tonight,... fufu.... ^___^

KolibriOS-tan the hyperactive hummingbird-girl... I like that! I also imagine she would dress very vibrantly with lots of feathers in her outfit and hair, and that she would love to dress up!

OOOH!!!  OOOH!!!  OOOH!!!

I want MA HUMMINGBIRD GIRL.... NOW!!!!!!!!  ^V^

Spring OS is much younger than Solaris so she would have been Solaris-tan's younger sister who also taught her big sis some things and assumed the role as her mentor as well.

But I completely aggree with Solaris-tan becoming an open-sourceress to avoid Spring OS-tan's fate.

Aa sou, I [we?] stand corrected.  ^^

Okay, so perhaps the parallel is more like Lisa-chan and Mac 1.0-chan, had 1.0-chan been taken away.  While Lisa-tan might have treated 1.0-chan badly, I have no doubt she would have been devastated if she had "won", and managed to accidentally get rid of her younger sister.  '__'

IMSAI 8080-tan is possibly Altair 8800-tan's clone and were each other's main competitors and were mortal enemies. As I mentioned when I introduced Altair-tan, she was at a disadvantage but was so focused on knocking IMSAI 8080-tan out of the competition instead of improving herself that she caused her own demise. IMSAI 8080-tan is much stronger and hardier than her rival (The IMSAI 8080 was also more successful and outlasted the Altair by several years) and is aligned with the CIOST.

WOW!!!  So now we have that famous system that starred in Wargames working alongside VMS-sama!!  By GAWD, she has an all-star cast lined up already!  @v@

Appearance-wise, she has silver hair and dark purple eyes, dresses eccentrically yet casually with her outfit having lots of red and blue in it. She is also short too, only as tall as Altair-tan (137 cm tall, or 4'6'') but don't be fooled by her short stature and eccentric appearance- she is a lot tougher and more professional than she looks!

But she's still short.  T__T
I mean, that's.... baaaaaaaaaaaaaarely,... DR-DOS-sama's height.  T____T'

But then so is UNIX-sama, and you see what a tough cookie she is.  ^^;

.....

Uh-oh, did I just say "cookie".  ^____^;

*here's sound of long-range missile, holding a boot for a warhead, propelling towards him*

In her prime, she was an engineer for the military and has even devised schemes for mind control (a reference to hacking, which is also a reference to the movie "WarGames" in which the protagonist used an IMSAI 8080 to hack a military supercomputer. The IMSAI 8080 was also used for scientific applications, military and government applications and computer sciences; as well as small businesses, data communication, banking and insurance programs and even for personal computer systems). She retired from her military career after her demise from the competition due to more popular competitors (i.e: Apple ][-tan) as well as faulty 'upgrades'. She knew that the competitors were inevitable but thought the faulty upgrades were a ploy by her second company to eliminate her for falling behind and losing support from the home users (since her competitors were so much user-friendlier. Although she still did have a lot of support from the military, the government, top scientists, and high-ranking business people; they were only a small percentage of the people, with home users being the majority).

Now she is a businesswoman and the messenger for the CIOST to keep members in contact with each other and arrange meetings when need be. Also, although she usually does not have a lot of money, she strives to the the benefactor for small businesses in need. Oh, and she has the recurring desire to return to her days as a super powerful military engineer! But, despite being rather maniacal and crazy, she is actually very unselfish.

Oooh,... keeping the CIOST members well-connected is NOT an easy task,... the girl's got guts to be able to take that upon herself.  ^^
Her military experience probably also helps, from time to time, with the planning of strategies.  Between her tacit experience in the field, VMS-sama's resourcefulness, BeOS-san's intelligence, TRON-sama's unbreakable intelligence network, and GECOS-sama's ruthless pragmatism, you already have an idea of the kind of strategic genius behind the CIOST's survival all these years.

Back on to the topic of Geniac-tan, sadly I now consider her deceased. The Geniac doesn't have a cult following like some other early personal computers do, nor do I know if there are enough surviving units to keep the system alive. Which is a bummer because she had so much wisdom to share with the world, if she was able to!

Well that's true, but as a consumer unit I do imagine there has to be one or two out there at least.  

To expand upon her previous sap story, supposing there were once hundreds of GENIAC-tan's, and she's literally the last surviving one.  Only she/they wouldn't know it, and so the search for her other sisters is a kind of side-project they engage in.  Though it likely won't yield the desired results, who knows what other mysteries and discoveries they come across in their searches.

[Bella]

KolibriOS-tan the hyperactive hummingbird-girl... I like that! I also imagine she would dress very vibrantly with lots of feathers in her outfit and hair, and that she would love to dress up!

...and also likes to drink sugar-water XD

I couldn't really think of anything either. I know she'd have some resemblance to Syllable-tan. And maybe include a slight resemblance to Amiga-tan as well.

I thought Syllable-tan resembled Amiga-tan quite a bit...

Spring OS is much younger than Solaris so she would have been Solaris-tan's younger sister who also taught her big sis some things and assumed the role as her mentor as well.

But I completely aggree with Solaris-tan becoming an open-sourceress to avoid Spring OS-tan's fate.

Oh, I see, I thought Spring OS was older...

Speaking of "Wargames", did you know that the protagonist used an IMSAI 8080 to hack that military supercomputer?

I've even got a description and sketched design in progress for an IMSAI 8080-tan!:

IMSAI 8080-tan is possibly Altair 8800-tan's clone and were each other's main competitors and were mortal enemies. As I mentioned when I introduced Altair-tan, she was at a disadvantage but was so focused on knocking IMSAI 8080-tan out of the competition instead of improving herself that she caused her own demise. IMSAI 8080-tan is much stronger and hardier than her rival (The IMSAI 8080 was also more successful and outlasted the Altair by several years) and is aligned with the CIOST.

Appearance-wise, she has silver hair and dark purple eyes, dresses eccentrically yet casually with her outfit having lots of red and blue in it. She is also short too, only as tall as Altair-tan (137 cm tall, or 4'6'') but don't be fooled by her short stature and eccentric appearance- she is a lot tougher and more professional than she looks!

In her prime, she was an engineer for the military and has even devised schemes for mind control (a reference to hacking, which is also a reference to the movie "WarGames" in which the protagonist used an IMSAI 8080 to hack a military supercomputer. The IMSAI 8080 was also used for scientific applications, military and government applications and computer sciences; as well as small businesses, data communication, banking and insurance programs and even for personal computer systems). She retired from her military career after her demise from the competition due to more popular competitors (i.e: Apple ][-tan) as well as faulty 'upgrades'. She knew that the competitors were inevitable but thought the faulty upgrades were a ploy by her second company to eliminate her for falling behind and losing support from the home users (since her competitors were so much user-friendlier. Although she still did have a lot of support from the military, the government, top scientists, and high-ranking business people; they were only a small percentage of the people, with home users being the majority).

Now she is a businesswoman and the messenger for the CIOST to keep members in contact with each other and arrange meetings when need be. Also, although she usually does not have a lot of money, she strives to the the benefactor for small businesses in need. Oh, and she has the recurring desire to return to her days as a super powerful military engineer! But, despite being rather maniacal and crazy, she is actually very unselfish.

Wow, I can't wait to see IMSAT 8080-tan...she sounds really cool...

....And more and more characters keep stacking up for my planned CIOST ensemble picture....

Oooh,... you sure about that? ^^;
I know they're function is small in comparison to modern systems,.... but the PHYSICAL SIZE OF THOSE SYSTEMS....

I dunno,... might have to challenge that. I always viewed them as the transition of Titans -> Gods -> Demi-Gods,... after a while, it just gets pointless to manifest oneself as being physically large, especially as the "smaller" OS-tan world gains in size and relevance and self-sufficiency. That's why, in my future "romp" of the OS-tan world, my beloved giant Mainframe-tans are all but extinct.

While I do agree that they would not have thought themselves as goddesses, that would have been the impression once mini and micro personal computers started showing up.

I almost think the opposite. I kinda thought that back in the day they wouldn't have been giants, that this would have been a somewhat new trend; that's not to say that they weren't very advanced as a society, though.

I kinda see it like this; say there's an ancient culture, like the ones so common in fiction, where sorcery and magic is commonplace. But nowadays, anyone who practices "magic" is considered something of a loon. I guess what I'm saying is, even though they were very advanced, this was considered common; mainframes are only now "special" because of their status amongst so many smaller machines.

To use a more contemporary example, neither ME-tan nor XP-tan think of themselves as goddesses (except perhaps beauty-wise?), since they power the kind of personal computers that 99% of the world uses. However, they do realize that they are MUCH larger and MUCH more powerful than CE-tan, which still runs on only a smattering of personal electronic devices.

However, the way the computer world is evolving, it wouldn't be long before the likes of CE-chan or Palm-chan or Symbian-chan or all matter of embedded Linux-tans take over the title of the world's majority population. In this scenario, these cute little lilliputians become the new "normal", and the likes of ME-tan and XP-tan would find themselves as the new titans.

I see your point; but again, I kinda think the opposite. Sure, small OSes are a bit uncommon now, but soon enough they'll be everywhere and be the new "common" OSes. Then I think that they will cease being very small, and perhaps just be normal sized (albeit with less endowment then some of their predecessors )

But then again, it is a moot point, as the size difference among Guild members is almost purely artificial. In fairness, it might not have been a "fad" to appear that large until AFTER the micro/mini computers started appearing, when it was important to drill the fact into the newcomer's heads that they were bigger and better. ^^;

I couldn't have put it better myself

Oooh, just keep piling on the ancestors. ^___^

I have no ideas for a TSS 8-tan, though...alls I know is that she'd be RSTS-tan's mom.

You mean the schoolgirl outfits that have enough jewelry to take a small nation out of debt, and are usually adorned with Angora fluffy socks? ^___^'

*SQUEALS*

Okay, I'm sold. Gimme. ^^

*puts in queue of summer drawings*

Yep, just checked... MenuetOS-tan is in the CIOST roster. ^.^
And from the sound of it, another excellent fighter to assist VMS-sama. Not a friend per se, but loyal and to-the-point.

*adds MenuetOS-tan to the lineup of CIOST-tans in picture*

Oh no, I'm seeing a Spruce Goose a coming...

Actually, I was bouncing back and forth the idea of conceiving an AtheOS-tan way back then. Eventually I chose against it for reasonx XYZ, but here she appears once more. ^.^

Probably would opt to make her Syllable-tan's older sister. Maybe she's not a full fangirl, but probably a strong admirer of Amiga-san, who perhaps at one point of her life helped her in a time of need (and thus AtheOS-tan has felt grateful ever since). Not to say DragonFlyBSD-chan wouldn't hold your suspicions, though. ^^;

I agree here...

Aww,... sorry about keeping her on the Deceased list.... ;___;

Now that you mention it, she kinda sorta sounds like the Sun version of Apple I-san. That would kinda make Solaris-sama akin to a Lisa-chan then, and might also explain a bit of her own internal bitterness she feels. Given the coldness of the Unices of that era, I doubt any of them offered themselves as a substitute "older sister" for Solaris-sama. ^^

'cept, backwards-like.

Oooh,... the name sounds familiar,...

....

AH YES, I remember where we saw that last! ^___^

http://www.blinkenlights.com/pc.shtml

Actually that still opens up the active debate of computer hardware vs OS software, but why not. That'd certainly give me the excuse I need to lobby for giant Mainframe-tans apearing earlier rather than later. ^.^

For some reason, I envision her as being rather puppet-like -- although not made out of wood, she can't move or function without having someone (such as a caretaker) hold her handle. She'd be a kind of anti-Pinocchio -- she's a real girl and a smart one at that, but sadly is bound by strings forever.

I can even think up some sap in that regards. She might have been very famous in her day, but after her caretaker outgrew her for newer more advanced systems, she was left in an attic motionless and forgotten for many decades.

The one day some young vintage-tans, searching for spare parts in the antic, discover her and nearly fall back in fright as she comes to life the moment someone holds her handle. GENIAC-san would be happy and cheery at first, but quickly grows sad and frightened as she realizes almost 50 years have passed and the world and friends she once knew are long gone. Moreover, she develops a terrible fear of going back to "sleep", as she dreads the thought of waking up another several decades later.

It's hard at first for the Vintage-tans to "pass her around", trying to help her get used to the modern world while still trying to live out their own lives -- in a way it ends up yielding mixed results, as GENIAC-san ends up feeling like an old, tired dog on a leash. Fortunately EXEC-sama, who already feels like she contributes little, gladly volunteers to be GENIAC-chan's caretaker.

Her infinite patience and motherly demeanor help the younger-minded GENIAC -- but the fact that EXEC-sama is actually OLDER is also valuable as she's able to talk to the GENIAC-chan using words, imagery and memories that the two can relate to. Over time the two become great friends -- and while there is still some work to be done to calm GENIAC-chan's phobias, at least now she's more comfortable in her interactions with the newer girls.

Certainly she feels eager to spend time chatting with other fellow "geniuses" (=C64-tan), even if she usually ends up offering more obstructive questions than constructive answers. ^^;

What a wonderful little story...I love the idea

Aa sou, I [we?] stand corrected. ^^

Okay, so perhaps the parallel is more like Lisa-chan and Mac 1.0-chan, had 1.0-chan been taken away. While Lisa-tan might have treated 1.0-chan badly, I have no doubt she would have been devastated if she had "won", and managed to accidentally get rid of her younger sister. '__'

*puts Solaris-san and SpringOS-chan picture in queue*

I think my lineup of pictures is going to devour me before mid-August XD

But she's still short. T__T
I mean, that's.... baaaaaaaaaaaaaarely,... DR-DOS-sama's height. T____T'

But then so is UNIX-sama, and you see what a tough cookie she is. ^^;

.....

Uh-oh, did I just say "cookie". ^____^;

*here's sound of long-range missile, holding a boot for a warhead, propelling towards him*

Calling Unix-sama short + calling her a tough cookie = CERTAIN DEATH!!! Missile-propelled boot is new, I think, even for Unix-sama

Oooh,... keeping the CIOST members well-connected is NOT an easy task,... the girl's got guts to be able to take that upon herself. ^^
Her military experience probably also helps, from time to time, with the planning of strategies. Between her tacit experience in the field, VMS-sama's resourcefulness, BeOS-san's intelligence, TRON-sama's unbreakable intelligence network, and GECOS-sama's ruthless pragmatism, you already have an idea of the kind of strategic genius behind the CIOST's survival all these years.

Oh gawd I'm gonna have to add a modern-day GECOS-san in the CIOST picture...just thinking about this is sapping my strength O___O

To expand upon her previous sap story, supposing there were once hundreds of GENIAC-tan's, and she's literally the last surviving one. Only she/they wouldn't know it, and so the search for her other sisters is a kind of side-project they engage in. Though it likely won't yield the desired results, who knows what other mysteries and discoveries they come across in their searches.

So wait, it's possible she has other sisters out there..?

[Aurora Borealis]

Oooh,... you sure about that?  ^^;
I know they're function is small in comparison to modern systems,....

Our wristwatches may have more computing power than those 'ancient' computer systems of the 1960's!

but the PHYSICAL SIZE OF THOSE SYSTEMS....
....

That is freaking HUGE!! Computers so huge that they produced enough heat to heat up the whole building (saves on costs of having to use a furnace for heating at least!) and computers literally got bugs in them!

I dunno,... might have to challenge that.  I always viewed them as the transition of Titans -> Gods -> Demi-Gods,... after a while, it just gets pointless to manifest oneself as being physically large, especially as the "smaller" OS-tan world gains in size and relevance and self-sufficiency.  That's why, in my future "romp" of the OS-tan world, my beloved giant Mainframe-tans are all but extinct.

I see... As being giant gets to be less and less practical, the mainframe-tans gradually downsize themselves more and more. When you say the giant mainframe-tans are all but extinct, did they all die off or downsize themselves to human size?

While I do agree that they would not have thought themselves as goddesses, that would have been the impression once mini and micro personal computers started showing up.  

I can imagine what it would have been like from the perspective of a mainframe-tan: "Oh no! A bunch of mini and micro computer-tans have shown up, enough to outnumber us mainframes who were here first, darnit! We're losing our prestige! We don't stand out as much as we used to!"

"I've got it! Let's supersize ourselves! We're bigger and better!"

To use a more contemporary example, neither ME-tan nor XP-tan think of themselves as goddesses (except perhaps beauty-wise?), since they power the kind of personal computers that 99% of the world uses.  However, they do realize that they are MUCH larger and MUCH more powerful than CE-tan, which still runs on only a smattering of personal electronic devices.

But CE-tan appears as a goddess compared to the Damn Small-tans!

However, the way the computer world is evolving, it wouldn't be long before the likes of CE-chan or Palm-chan or Symbian-chan or all matter of embedded Linux-tans take over the title of the world's majority population.  In this scenario, these cute little lilliputians become the new "normal", and the likes of ME-tan and XP-tan would find themselves as the new titans.

A titan ME-tan and XP-tan sound really scary in a world dominated by the tiny! ME-tan could easily trip over them and XP-tan (and FreeBSD-tan!) could easily eat them! 0__0

But then again, it is a moot point, as the size difference among Guild members is almost purely artificial.  In fairness, it might not have been a "fad" to appear that large until AFTER the micro/mini computers started appearing, when it was important to drill the fact into the newcomer's heads that they were bigger and better.  ^^;

Even z/OS-sama's height is artificial despite being born a mainframe goddess?

Correction,... a GIANT unstable nut-case.  ^.^

*coos with delight and hugs TSS/360-tan's leg*

*SLAP*

*gets swatted and squashed like a mosquito*

Hey! Just a moment ago, you were latched on to AtariTOS-tan! Unless... you really did detach from her!

Yep, just checked... MenuetOS-tan is in the CIOST roster.  ^.^
And from the sound of it, another excellent fighter to assist VMS-sama.  Not a friend per se, but loyal and to-the-point.

Okay, that works! I've also decided what lightweight, futuristic weapon she should wield: a ray-gun! Not the most original choice but it works! (unless someone can think of something more original and suitable for her)

Actually, I was bouncing back and forth the idea of conceiving an AtheOS-tan way back then.  Eventually I chose against it for reasonx XYZ, but here she appears once more.  ^.^

Probably would opt to make her Syllable-tan's older sister.

Poor AtheOS-tan, she got abandoned in favor of her younger sister! Now I wonder how well or poorly they would have gotten along before AtheOS-tan's abandonment.

Maybe she's not a full fangirl, but probably a strong admirer of Amiga-san, who perhaps at one point of her life helped her in a time of need (and thus AtheOS-tan has felt grateful ever since).  Not to say DragonFlyBSD-chan wouldn't hold your suspicions, though.  ^^;

And that would make a great and heart-warming story!

Aww,... sorry about keeping her on the Deceased list.... ;___;

Now that you mention it, she kinda sorta sounds like the Sun version of Apple I-san.  That would kinda make Solaris-sama akin to a Lisa-chan then, and might also explain a bit of her own internal bitterness she feels.  Given the coldness of the Unices of that era, I doubt any of them offered themselves as a substitute "older sister" for Solaris-sama.  ^^

Aa sou, I [we?] stand corrected.  ^^

Okay, so perhaps the parallel is more like Lisa-chan and Mac 1.0-chan, had 1.0-chan been taken away.  While Lisa-tan might have treated 1.0-chan badly, I have no doubt she would have been devastated if she had "won", and managed to accidentally get rid of her younger sister.  '__'

I never considered such parallels, and both with Lisa-tan!

Based on a compromise of Solaris-san's parallels with Lisa-tan, Solaris-san started to experience internal bitterness after the death of her younger sister who taught her so much in the little time she knew her and none of the Unices of that era were cold-natured and not very supportive. She was also afraid that she herself ended up getting rid of her

And Lisa-tan would have been devastated if she won against System 1-tan (and got rid of her) despite being mean to her? Is that some serious guilt or did Lisa-tan really care for her younger sister but never showed it because of her preoccupation with years of bottled up mental trauma and negative emotions?

Oooh,... the name sounds familiar,...

....

AH YES, I remember where we saw that last!  ^___^

http://www.blinkenlights.com/pc.shtml

Yes! That is the site where I first heard of the GENIAC! Also on that list was the Paperclip Computer which I considered making a personification of as either a crudely-built android or a Frankenstein-type character... Or put in a "Six Million Dollar Man" parody!

For some reason, I envision her as being rather puppet-like -- although not made out of wood, she can't move or function without having someone (such as a caretaker) hold her handle.  She'd be a kind of anti-Pinocchio -- she's a real girl and a smart one at that, but sadly is bound by strings forever.

I like that! That is an even better reference to her requirements of a caretaker and parallel to GENIAC not being completely automatic!

I can even think up some sap in that regards.  She might have been very famous in her day, but after her caretaker outgrew her for newer more advanced systems, she was left in an attic motionless and forgotten for many decades.

That... is so sad! *sniffle*

I think that her abandonment would have been in 1960 as the last GENIAC variant was released in 1959 and there were some much more advanced-looking personal computers released in the early 1960's.

I also must remark... Bah! Her original caretaker didn't know the concept of "low end computing" and still being able to use computers even well past their obsolescence!

(but then again, I don't know of anyone who did that before the Mac users who are well-known for using their computers as long as possible!)

The one day some young vintage-tans, searching for spare parts in the antic, discover her and nearly fall back in fright as she comes to life the moment someone holds her handle.  

So she never really was deceased! Because of that, she might be the second oldest-living OS-tan character!

GENIAC-san would be happy and cheery at first, but quickly grows sad and frightened as she realizes almost 50 years have passed and the world and friends she once knew are long gone.

It's a very bittersweet moment. Glad to be 'alive' again but soon realizes she lives in a whole 'nother world full of complete strangers

At least EXEC-sama could help her out...

Moreover, she develops a terrible fear of going back to "sleep", as she dreads the thought of waking up another several decades later.

Oh my gosh...

It's hard at first for the Vintage-tans to "pass her around", trying to help her get used to the modern world while still trying to live out their own lives --

I hope no one has tried fighting over her...

in a way it ends up yielding mixed results, as GENIAC-san ends up feeling like an old, tired dog on a leash.  Fortunately EXEC-sama, who already feels like she contributes little, gladly volunteers to be GENIAC-chan's caretaker.

Perfect!

Her infinite patience and motherly demeanor help the younger-minded GENIAC -- but the fact that EXEC-sama is actually OLDER is also valuable as she's able to talk to the GENIAC-chan using words, imagery and memories that the two can relate to.  Over time the two become great friends -- and while there is still some work to be done to calm GENIAC-chan's phobias, at least now she's more comfortable in her interactions with the newer girls.

EXEC-sama is the perfect caretaker for GENIAC-tan, for EXEC-sama has lived in the same world GENIAC-tan had known and also the friends she had too are long gone. Also perfect is that EXEC-sama does not show any mental scars or trauma so she could be able to calm her down!

Certainly she feels eager to spend time chatting with other fellow "geniuses" (=C64-tan), even if she usually ends up offering more obstructive questions than constructive answers.  ^^;

"Oooh! What does this button do?"
"AAAAAAH! Don't press that!"

OOOH!!!  OOOH!!!  OOOH!!!

I want MA HUMMINGBIRD GIRL.... NOW!!!!!!!!  ^V^

*sigh* Drawing her may be very challenging but I shall put it on my current queue of OS-tan drawings (in no particular order):

-Finish 1989 Apple family picture
-Chibi IMSAI 8080-tan
-Revised GS/OS-tan
-Revised Festering Hate-tan
-Preconcept sketch of nVIR-tan
-4K-tan + OS/2-tan Star Trek ride picture
-Finalized MenuetOS-tan chibi
-Finalized GENIAC-tan chibi
-GENIAC-tan historical portraiture with her original caretakers (and maybe even a portraiture of her in present day with EXEC-sama)
-Preconcept KolibriOS-tan

WOW!!!  So now we have that famous system that starred in Wargames working alongside VMS-sama!!  By GAWD, she has an all-star cast lined up already!  @v@

The CIOST gets increasingly awesone!

But she's still short.  T__T
I mean, that's.... baaaaaaaaaaaaaarely,... DR-DOS-sama's height.  T____T'

But then so is UNIX-sama, and you see what a tough cookie she is.  ^^;

.....

Uh-oh, did I just say "cookie".  ^____^;

*here's sound of long-range missile, holding a boot for a warhead, propelling towards him*

I've seen flying books, bookshelves knocked on to people and of course whacking people with her metal staff but never before have I seen boot missles in UNIX's arsenal!

Oooh,... keeping the CIOST members well-connected is NOT an easy task,... the girl's got guts to be able to take that upon herself.  ^^

Someone's gotta do the task, but yes she is very brave indeed!

Her military experience probably also helps, from time to time, with the planning of strategies.  Between her tacit experience in the field, VMS-sama's resourcefulness, BeOS-san's intelligence, TRON-sama's unbreakable intelligence network, and GECOS-sama's ruthless pragmatism, you already have an idea of the kind of strategic genius behind the CIOST's survival all these years.

With such brilliant characters in the CIOST, it is such a shame that their faction as a whole is fragmented and uninspiring

Well that's true, but as a consumer unit I do imagine there has to be one or two out there at least.  

To expand upon her previous sap story, supposing there were once hundreds of GENIAC-tan's, and she's literally the last surviving one.  Only she/they wouldn't know it, and so the search for her other sisters is a kind of side-project they engage in.  Though it likely won't yield the desired results, who knows what other mysteries and discoveries they come across in their searches.

I'm curious as to how their search ends! But poor GENIAC-tan is going to be devastated finding out she is the last of her kind

---

MenuetOS-tan preconcept:


She has dark red hair, blue eyes, wears a metallic blue bodysuit under a long silver gown held up to knee length by garters so she can run without ripping her dress. She carries around a giant Swiss Army Knife that contains most of the tools she uses.

For her revised personality; MenuetOS-tan is fast, loyal, straightforward, to-the-point and is very resourceful although also fussy and with limited hardware support. She is also a strong pro-Assembly language advocate... And I think she'd be great at assembling things! She is still for the most part a loner and works by herself at her machine shop.

And height-wise, I imagine her being moderately tall at about 5'8" (~173 cm)
---

And here is the GENIAC-tan preconcept:



Yeah, she's very short. I though that 3'3" (100 cm) seemed about right.

As you readers of this thread know, the OS-tans of the 1960's-1980's wear or wore mostly Victorian-era outfits but GENIAC-tan's predates that!

Her dress and bonnet (except for the holes in it!) are in the style of what young girls wore from the 1790's-1820's (the time period that is the predecessor to the Victorian era). However the blazer she wears was just to give her more of an academic look or could even have been given to her by one of the Vintage-tans when she joined them!

And I really did consider using the alternative design depicted at the bottom of the picture! XD

[C-Chan]

Hi Aurora-hime.  ^_____^

Le sigh,... Bella-hime's gone, I'm so depressed....  -.-

Le siiiiiiiiiiigh....

....

Well,... as far as these particular story arcs go, guess it's just you and me then.  Kinda like old times.  ^^

I'll actually put completion of the Xmas Special as priority now, as I really do honestly want to finish that.  Only problem is that I don't remember how we drafted up the Fark panel, so hopefully you'll give me something to jog my memory.  I do remember it had to do with TotalFark-tan reaking havoc, but that's like saying that pigs eat alot.  ^___^'

In the meantime, one last epic response before I whip myself back to work.  ^^'

That is freaking HUGE!! Computers so huge that they produced enough heat to heat up the whole building (saves on costs of having to use a furnace for heating at least!) and computers literally got bugs in them!

Awesome blossom!  You know that oft-overlooked little factoid.  ^.^

I can imagine what it would have been like from the perspective of a mainframe-tan: "Oh no! A bunch of mini and micro computer-tans have shown up, enough to outnumber us mainframes who were here first, darnit! We're losing our prestige! We don't stand out as much as we used to!"

"I've got it! Let's supersize ourselves! We're bigger and better!"

Correct.  I think that explanation strikes the best balance,... and certainly helps avoid the paradox of having very OLD systems like UNIX-sama and EXEC-sama appear normal-sized (relatively speaking) whereas other systems of similar age are gigantic.  More than likely the decision to do this was purely selective -- and perhaps is one of the most well-guarded secrets of the Mainframe Guild.  

Only in recent years has the dreaded "Beowulf Cluster" spell threatened their size hegemony.  ^^

But CE-tan appears as a goddess compared to the Damn Small-tans!

Fufufu.... It's not everyday that a 6 inch girl can pass for a 60 foot one (although we agreed she's about 12 inches, no?).  ^.^'

Let's just hope it never gets to her head.  ^^;

A titan ME-tan and XP-tan sound really scary in a world dominated by the tiny! ME-tan could easily trip over them and XP-tan (and FreeBSD-tan!) could easily eat them! 0__0

Ah good,.. more poker buddies for when I get accidentally eaten by FreeB-chan.  ^^;

Even z/OS-sama's height is artificial despite being born a mainframe goddess?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,... do you want to get squished?!

It's a closely guarded secret, and no one DARES to tell her that.  

>___>

...

<___<

....

[whispering] She was only born into the Guild, but she wasn't born a goddess -- rather she was macros-sized soon after so she couldn't tell the difference.  Even though she's well over a head taller than even Barbie Linux-tan micro-sized, for her to shrink is as embarrassing to her as it is for most anime heroines to be caught naked in some hot spring.  She just can't stand it -- and besides, she's also worried about her Daemons too.  ^^;

Hey! Just a moment ago, you were latched on to AtariTOS-tan! Unless... you really did detach from her!

Also just a moment ago, I blended, electrocuted and blew myself up, and wound up reincarnated as a slug.  ^_______^'
Don't let little forum plot-holes get to you.  ^.^;

Okay, that works! I've also decided what lightweight, futuristic weapon she should wield: a ray-gun! Not the most original choice but it works! (unless someone can think of something more original and suitable for her)

Yeah, Ray Gun is like soooooooooooooo 1960's.  ^.^

Try something as cool, slick and dashing as her name,...

Like,....

A Meson Gun!  ^v^
Sorry, just reliving my old Wing Commander days.  ^___^

Here's the scientific explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meson

And here's something more relevant for us.... ^.^
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg/m/Me-Mh.html#meson_gun

But basically it's just a fancier type of Ray Gun, like a Neutron Gun or a Proton Torpedo or a  Tachyon Beam.

Poor AtheOS-tan, she got abandoned in favor of her younger sister! Now I wonder how well or poorly they would have gotten along before AtheOS-tan's abandonment.

Well if she admires Amiga-sama, surely she shares the same forgive-and-forget attitude. especially if it's her own sister.  ^^

Based on a compromise of Solaris-san's parallels with Lisa-tan, Solaris-san started to experience internal bitterness after the death of her younger sister who taught her so much in the little time she knew her and none of the Unices of that era were cold-natured and not very supportive. She was also afraid that she herself ended up getting rid of her

That's a good way to expand upon the point. ^^
You can actually make the case that her cheerier "SunOS" years were those spent with SpringOS-san, while her "Solaris"-era form represents her bitter and resentful form.

And Lisa-tan would have been devastated if she won against System 1-tan (and got rid of her) despite being mean to her? Is that some serious guilt or did Lisa-tan really care for her younger sister but never showed it because of her preoccupation with years of bottled up mental trauma and negative emotions?

While I'm just basing off the assumption that no bond is stronger than blood.  Especially in the case of Lisa-chan, her emotions have always been a wild mess -- she hated and resented her sisters' popularity, but at the same time loved them and struggled to express it in some way that wouldn't betray her own resentment.  That too helped in the eventual "switching off" of her brain, having been overloaded with too many painful and repressed emotions.

I like that! That is an even better reference to her requirements of a caretaker and parallel to GENIAC not being completely automatic!

Fufu,.. i only expanded on your ideas.  ^^

(but then again, I don't know of anyone who did that before the Mac users who are well-known for using their computers as long as possible!)

Being a glorified circuit board, I can't see her as having much lasting value, even to hobbyists at the time.  -.-'

So she never really was deceased! Because of that, she might be the second oldest-living OS-tan character!

Well I suppose it's all a matter of perception -- given her puppet-like status, the case could be made that she never was "living" to begin with, or even an OS-tan.  That being the case, you can probably say she was simply "revived" (or "reanimated").

So far, she qualifies as second-oldest,... although given how old she looks/thinks, it's probably not a title she'd be comfortable with.  She didn't exactly ask to be an old granny.  ^^;

It's a very bittersweet moment. Glad to be 'alive' again but soon realizes she lives in a whole 'nother world full of complete strangers

I would say its akin to waking from a coma.
However, while thinking of GENIAC-chan's story, I was actually more-or-less aiming for a much sadder and darker version of Jessie's backstory from Toy Story 2.  She longs for companionship again, but has grown distrusful and claustrophobic from her experience.

EXEC-sama is the perfect caretaker for GENIAC-tan, for EXEC-sama has lived in the same world GENIAC-tan had known and also the friends she had too are long gone. Also perfect is that EXEC-sama does not show any mental scars or trauma so she could be able to calm her down!

Correct on all accounts!  ^^
I wanted EXEC-sama especially for the role because, at least from the present day timeline, she still feels like a useless burden to the Binteji Renmei.  Her hair takes up too much space (and time to groom), she's too old and slow to handle even the most basic tasks, and despite her great age and wisdom, her intelligence PALES in comparison to that of UNIX-sama or GECOS-sama and the like.

Taking care of GENIAC-chan is perfect, as all she has to do is literally hold her handle and keep her company.

Since she's the best at this, and is able to help GENIAC-chan heal faster,... you can almost say GENIAC-chan offers EXEC-sama her "Raison d'Etre".  Fast forward a few years into the future, and I think both of them (assuming they're still alive) will have mutually benefited from the companionship.

*sigh* Drawing her may be very challenging but I shall put it on my current queue of OS-tan drawings (in no particular order):

oh no no, I was just kidding.  I don't do requests anymore (Golden Rule and all), so by all means take your time, if you want to even draw her at all.  ^.^

I'm curious as to how their search ends! But poor GENIAC-tan is going to be devastated finding out she is the last of her kind

She may not necessarily have to know that.  I imagine that over time, after she's grown used to the company of the vintage-tans, and even comes to love and care for them,... she'll probably concede the search on her own.  Rather than force her new friends to dwell in her old past, she'll probably opt to work hard to bring them a better future.

Course, that's not to say someone like ZX-chan will continue the search anyway, and uncover the unpleasant truth.  But maybe she won't tell GENIAC-chan at all -- or maybe she will, and GENIAC-chan will take it as calm closure to her old life.  It's not like she's the only "last anything" -- many a good vintage-tan represents the last fading memory of a once powerful fad, family, or faction.  

She has dark red hair, blue eyes, wears a metallic blue bodysuit under a long silver gown held up to knee length by garters so she can run without ripping her dress. She carries around a giant Swiss Army Knife that contains most of the tools she uses.

For her revised personality; MenuetOS-tan is fast, loyal, straightforward, to-the-point and is very resourceful although also fussy and with limited hardware support. She is also a strong pro-Assembly language advocate... And I think she'd be great at assembling things! She is still for the most part a loner and works by herself at her machine shop.

And height-wise, I imagine her being moderately tall at about 5'8" (~173 cm)

Oooh,.. she reminds me of a kick-ass version of Meiko from Marmalade Boy.  I love Meiko, hence I'll love Menu-chan!  ^_____^

Love the aspect of the giant Swiss Army Knife -- probably looks comical in principle, but anyone who sees her whip a whole LIGHT SABRE out of it will surely think otherwise!  ^v^

I would imagine that she and TRON-sama would be good partners, since Menu-chan can clearly build many of the industrial machines that may be too gritty for TRON-chan to work on comfortably.  Although since BOTH are loners, no one would probably even notice.  ^.^;

Yeah, she's very short. I though that 3'3" (100 cm) seemed about right.

As you readers of this thread know, the OS-tans of the 1960's-1980's wear or wore mostly Victorian-era outfits but GENIAC-tan's predates that!

Her dress and bonnet (except for the holes in it!) are in the style of what young girls wore from the 1790's-1820's (the time period that is the predecessor to the Victorian era). However the blazer she wears was just to give her more of an academic look or could even have been given to her by one of the Vintage-tans when she joined them!

And I really did consider using the alternative design depicted at the bottom of the picture! XD

SUGOINESS!!!  ^V^
Wow, the girl's got KEWT to spare!  ^___^

She reminds me a bit of Hinaichigo and in a way its appropiate given her personality.  Nice job on the historical accuracy of our crazy timeline, and in the perforated bonnet -- that's a very cool and original touch.  ^.^

Despite her extreme shortness, she's actually not the shortest Vintage-tan.  I believe QDOS-chan still holds that title at 92cm.  ^___^'

Not really feeling the alternative design, though,...... unless perhaps if she dresses like that when she helps,... *cough cough cough* bugs *cough cough*.... C64-tan.  ^__^

[Aurora Borealis]

Hi Aurora-hime.  ^_____^

Le sigh,... Bella-hime's gone, I'm so depressed....  -.-

Le siiiiiiiiiiigh....

*joins in sighing*

Well,... as far as these particular story arcs go, guess it's just you and me then.  Kinda like old times.  ^^

Like old times, back from 2006!

I'll actually put completion of the Xmas Special as priority now, as I really do honestly want to finish that.  Only problem is that I don't remember how we drafted up the Fark panel, so hopefully you'll give me something to jog my memory.  I do remember it had to do with TotalFark-tan reaking havoc, but that's like saying that pigs eat alot.  ^___^'

Digging through my PM inbox, I found it!: Mugshot-tan (who I need to draw a slightly updated version of. Another character that I made but totally neglected! Shame on me!) is holding up an alarm clock for a present but is crying a waterfall of tears as she overslept and missed the appointment to be one of the helpers that year which was why Red Hat-tan asked the virus-tans for help.

Foobies-tan appears holding up a bikini top (or have it placed on her head!) shouting "FOOBIES!" and Total Fark-tan appears offering a giant jar of mustard and is also curiously looking around (and coating everything she touched in mustard)

Correct.  I think that explanation strikes the best balance,... and certainly helps avoid the paradox of having very OLD systems like UNIX-sama and EXEC-sama appear normal-sized (relatively speaking) whereas other systems of similar age are gigantic.  More than likely the decision to do this was purely selective -- and perhaps is one of the most well-guarded secrets of the Mainframe Guild.  

Wow that was easy! Paradox averted!

Only in recent years has the dreaded "Beowulf Cluster" spell threatened their size hegemony.  ^^

Now what would Beowulf Cluster-tans be like? Would they be "Beowulf"-inspired as well as giant?

Fufufu.... It's not everyday that a 6 inch girl can pass for a 60 foot one (although we agreed she's about 12 inches, no?).  ^.^'

Let's just hope it never gets to her head.  ^^;

We agreed on 12 inches for CE-tan's height.

Still don't want CE-tan passing herself off as a giant to the Damn Smalls to get to her head, but their tiny size helped made CE-tan feel more significant about herself!

Ah good,.. more poker buddies for when I get accidentally eaten by FreeB-chan.  ^^;

How about you try to prevent getting eaten again?

[whispering] She was only born into the Guild, but she wasn't born a goddess -- rather she was macros-sized soon after so she couldn't tell the difference.  Even though she's well over a head taller than even Barbie Linux-tan micro-sized, for her to shrink is as embarrassing to her as it is for most anime heroines to be caught naked in some hot spring.  She just can't stand it -- and besides, she's also worried about her Daemons too.  ^^;

Oh... Didn't know she hated microsizing that much! But what does she do when she wants to go out in public (if she ever does)? 0__0

Yeah, Ray Gun is like soooooooooooooo 1960's.  ^.^

Try something as cool, slick and dashing as her name,...

Like,....

A Meson Gun!  ^v^
Sorry, just reliving my old Wing Commander days.  ^___^

Here's the scientific explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meson

And here's something more relevant for us.... ^.^
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg/m/Me-Mh.html#meson_gun

But basically it's just a fancier type of Ray Gun, like a Neutron Gun or a Proton Torpedo or a  Tachyon Beam.

Neat! It's like a more advanced ray gun. I approve!

Well if she admires Amiga-sama, surely she shares the same forgive-and-forget attitude. especially if it's her own sister.  ^^

That sounds right!

That's a good way to expand upon the point. ^^
You can actually make the case that her cheerier "SunOS" years were those spent with SpringOS-san, while her "Solaris"-era form represents her bitter and resentful form.

Mostly agree, although Solaris-tan/SunOS-tan would have only known SpringOS-tan for only a few years. Incidentally, was it around the time SpringOS got canceled (mid 1990's) that SunOS was renamed Solaris?

While I'm just basing off the assumption that no bond is stronger than blood.  Especially in the case of Lisa-chan, her emotions have always been a wild mess -- she hated and resented her sisters' popularity, but at the same time loved them and struggled to express it in some way that wouldn't betray her own resentment.  That too helped in the eventual "switching off" of her brain, having been overloaded with too many painful and repressed emotions.

Yeah, that was another huge conflicting emotional overload. Or more like the years of bottled up negative emotions were the overload, and Lisa-tan's conflicting love/hate towards her sisters was just overkill....

But oh my gosh, Lisa-tan really did care even though she could never express it!

Well I suppose it's all a matter of perception -- given her puppet-like status, the case could be made that she never was "living" to begin with, or even an OS-tan.  That being the case, you can probably say she was simply "revived" (or "reanimated").

Hmm... I didn't consider that (silly, scatterbrained ol' me! >__<) but it does suit her better (because if she really were dead, a necromancer would have been required to bring her back). I thought there were only the living, the dead and the undead! ^^;

Correct on all accounts!  ^^
I wanted EXEC-sama especially for the role because, at least from the present day timeline, she still feels like a useless burden to the Binteji Renmei.  Her hair takes up too much space (and time to groom), she's too old and slow to handle even the most basic tasks, and despite her great age and wisdom, her intelligence PALES in comparison to that of UNIX-sama or GECOS-sama and the like.

Taking care of GENIAC-chan is perfect, as all she has to do is literally hold her handle and keep her company.

Since she's the best at this, and is able to help GENIAC-chan heal faster,... you can almost say GENIAC-chan offers EXEC-sama her "Raison d'Etre".  Fast forward a few years into the future, and I think both of them (assuming they're still alive) will have mutually benefited from the companionship.

Perfectly said! Those two are perfect friends for each other! ;019
(although it is sad that they both might not have longer than a few years to live though)

I'm curious as to how their search ends! But poor GENIAC-tan is going to be devastated finding out she is the last of her kind

She may not necessarily have to know that.  I imagine that over time, after she's grown used to the company of the vintage-tans, and even comes to love and care for them,... she'll probably concede the search on her own.  Rather than force her new friends to dwell in her old past, she'll probably opt to work hard to bring them a better future.

I understand, she wouldn't want to subject her new (err... vintage) friends to a long search with potentially depressing results!

Course, that's not to say someone like ZX-chan will continue the search anyway, and uncover the unpleasant truth.  But maybe she won't tell GENIAC-chan at all -- or maybe she will, and GENIAC-chan will take it as calm closure to her old life.  It's not like she's the only "last anything" -- many a good vintage-tan represents the last fading memory of a once powerful fad, family, or faction.

ZX-chan sure is curious, determined and really interested in history enough to try and continue the search, isn't she? ;012

But now that you mentioned it, maybe GENIAC-chan won't take the truth so hard after all and would take it as calm closure to her old life. And being the last of her kind makes her one of a kind and more special than she was in the past and she would be better able to empathize with those who are the last of a fad, family or faction!

I at first thought that GENIAC-chan finding out she was the last of her kind would have been very devestating, akin to when Ang from "Avatar the Last Airbender" found out he was the last airbender after being gone for 100 years!

Oooh,.. she reminds me of a kick-ass version of Meiko from Marmalade Boy.  I love Meiko, hence I'll love Menu-chan!  ^_____^

Love the aspect of the giant Swiss Army Knife -- probably looks comical in principle, but anyone who sees her whip a whole LIGHT SABRE out of it will surely think otherwise!  ^v^

Ha ha ha! I can imagine it now!

some malicious hacker person or something: *pulls out hacking equipment* What are you going to do about it?

MenuetOS-tan: *brings out her Swiss Army Knife*

some malicious person: A giant Swiss Army Knife?! Hahahahaha!

*MenuetOS-tan whips out light saber from it*

some malicious person: OH SHI-- *runs away*

I would imagine that she and TRON-sama would be good partners, since Menu-chan can clearly build many of the industrial machines that may be too gritty for TRON-chan to work on comfortably.  Although since BOTH are loners, no one would probably even notice.  ^.^;

Good call! Those two could make a mighty good machine-building team together! (although it's a shame no one would notice)

That makes MenuetOS-tan another fine addition to the CIOST!

SUGOINESS!!!  ^V^
Wow, the girl's got KEWT to spare!  ^___^

She reminds me a bit of Hinaichigo and in a way its appropiate given her personality.  Nice job on the historical accuracy of our crazy timeline, and in the perforated bonnet -- that's a very cool and original touch.  ^.^

Thanks! I'm glad I went with that first design because it really does suit her better and for the historical parallels! (her generation was the predecessor to the very stuffy generation of the 1960's!, just like how the 1790's-1820's was the predecessor of the Victorian era notorious for stuffy behavior and dress codes! Even though the extents of their behavior, rules and dress codes were exaggerated somewhat by modern scholars...)

BTW, would EXEC-sama wear something even more old-fashioned than GENIAC-chan?

Despite her extreme shortness, she's actually not the shortest Vintage-tan.  I believe QDOS-chan still holds that title at 92cm.  ^___^'

Yeah, you're right.

Not really feeling the alternative design, though,...... unless perhaps if she dresses like that when she helps,... *cough cough cough* bugs *cough cough*.... C64-tan.  ^__^

Hahahaha! That's a good way to put the alternative design to use! (although, I wonder what Vintage-tan would have convinced her to wear such outfit!)

[C-Chan]

Oooh sorry,... drawing now... can't write my standard-issue long responses just yet.  ^____^'

But let me just answer some quick questions:

Now what would Beowulf Cluster-tans be like? Would they be "Beowulf"-inspired as well as giant?

Haven't really given much though about Beowulf Clusters really, only that the actual Beowulf Cluster spell requires casting from several OS-tans versed in the highest levels of Open Sorcery.  Not really sure if they create a "virtual giantess", or morph into a giant single entity that's a composite of all of them (kinda like how you drew your own OS-tan chimeras).  

I do know that the number of OS-tans casting the chain spell directly affects the size of the resulting giantess, but is also dependent on the casters' body mass and spell level -- so if only 10 OS-tans of equal processing power and moderate height/weight cast it, they may only become something like 6 meters tall (easily squashable or at least puntable by zOS-sama).

And as for Beowulf inspiration... why not?  ^___^

How about you try to prevent getting eaten again?

<__<

...

>__>

......

.........

Uh.............

...

*changes topic*

Soooo,... how's the weather around your parts?  ^^:

Oh... Didn't know she hated microsizing that much! But what does she do when she wants to go out in public (if she ever does)? 0__0

She doesn't.  ^^

Or if she ABSOLUTELY has to, she just appears as is -- causing the kind of havoc that would make even Godzilla look time.  ^^;

Mostly agree, although Solaris-tan/SunOS-tan would have only known SpringOS-tan for only a few years. Incidentally, was it around the time SpringOS got canceled (mid 1990's) that SunOS was renamed Solaris?

Well actually no,... SpringOS was still active during and after the renaming, according to Wiki.  But perhaps SunOS was isolated from her in order to undergo the remergence as Solaris, and that was something she may have always resented (and more so after SpringOS died).

Yeah, that was another huge conflicting emotional overload. Or more like the years of bottled up negative emotions were the overload, and Lisa-tan's conflicting love/hate towards her sisters was just overkill....

But oh my gosh, Lisa-tan really did care even though she could never express it!

Shouldn't be too hard to believe.  Last I heard, System 6-san is in the same boat.  ^^

ZX-chan sure is curious, determined and really interested in history enough to try and continue the search, isn't she?

Even though I haven't drawn her in ages, I want to continue to paint ZX-chan as a very rich and deep character -- who, despite her age, is still able to carry out and compile vast amounts of research, all written in an eloquent 19th century-style writing.  You know, the kind that makes something even as mundane as a field analysis of fruit fly feeding patterns a joy to read.  ^.^

Here's more that kinda/sorta touches on what I'm talking about:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DE1539F934A1575AC0A961948260&sec=technology&spon=&pagewanted=all

But now that you mentioned it, maybe GENIAC-chan won't take the truth so hard after all and would take it as calm closure to her old life. And being the last of her kind makes her one of a kind and more special than she was in the past and she would be better able to empathize with those who are the last of a fad, family or faction!

I at first thought that GENIAC-chan finding out she was the last of her kind would have been very devestating, akin to when Ang from "Avatar the Last Airbender" found out he was the last airbender after being gone for 100 years!

Well it would be if she found that out immediately, as in "Hi!  Welcome back, Rip Van Winkle-ette.  And oh yeah, your whole family's dead.  Sorry."

But I'm aiming that she'll spend many months/years with the vintage-tans, getting to know them, have fun with them, and start to rebuild her life with some tacit understanding of modern concepts.  In a sense, she would mature, and in so doing lose a lot of her old childlike fears.  The kind acceptance of EXEC-sama probably would have inspired her too.

BTW, would EXEC-sama wear something even more old-fashioned than GENIAC-chan?

Well, you basically answered your own question.  Fufu... ^____________^

Don't forget that EXEC-sama's defining trait is her RIDICULOUSLY long hair.  I'm aiming for a length of about 10 meters or so -- but while it's very wide and fluffy from her head down to her feet, it generally trails behind as one gigantic ponytail.  And of course, haircuts are deadly -- especially since extensions for her hair type haven't been manufactured in over 40 years.  @.@;

Hahahaha! That's a good way to put the alternative design to use! (although, I wonder what Vintage-tan would have convinced her to wear such outfit!)

Well,... it DOES have a VERY... canny.... resemblance.... to... what ZX-chan wears,... minus the hat.  ^^;

[Siya]

*Peeks in, again*

I was wondering if an Oralux-tan would be blind or more of a seeing-eye dog (chicken) sort of person.

[C-Chan]

I have plans for ONE blind OS-tan (TPF-san), but can't see why we can't have another one.  

I'm thinking of a compromise situation:  she's blind, but also carries around a cute seeing-eye chicken.  ^__^

[Aurora Borealis]

Haven't really given much though about Beowulf Clusters really, only that the actual Beowulf Cluster spell requires casting from several OS-tans versed in the highest levels of Open Sorcery.  Not really sure if they create a "virtual giantess", or morph into a giant single entity that's a composite of all of them (kinda like how you drew your own OS-tan chimeras).  

Giant chimeras!

I do know that the number of OS-tans casting the chain spell directly affects the size of the resulting giantess, but is also dependent on the casters' body mass and spell level -- so if only 10 OS-tans of equal processing power and moderate height/weight cast it, they may only become something like 6 meters tall (easily squashable or at least puntable by zOS-sama).

Oh. Still, even a 6 meter-tall Beowulf cluster-tan is more than a match for almost everyone. Although I was kinda hoping a Beowulf cluster-tan would be able to put up a decent fight against mainframe-tan (if a situation ever called for it).

<__<

...

>__>

......

.........

Uh.............

...

*changes topic*

Soooo,... how's the weather around your parts?  ^^:

Just fine! Currently partly cloudy, high in the 80's although my area is prone to thunderstorms in the summer as well and it gets very cold in the winter and the weather is just plain out of whack in the springtime.

She doesn't.  ^^

Or if she ABSOLUTELY has to, she just appears as is -- causing the kind of havoc that would make even Godzilla look time.  ^^;

Holy craaaaaap!

"There's a giant on the loose!"
"EVERYBODY PANIC!!"
"Who will save the children?!"
"Forget the children, RUN FOR YOUR FREAKING LIVES BEFORE SHE SQUASHES YOU LIKE A BUG!"
'AAAaAAAAAh!"
(everyone seen running and screaming)

z/OS: Puny humans, I'm just trying to go shopping! Be nice or I will purposely destroy the town! MUAHAHAHAhA!

Well actually no,... SpringOS was still active during and after the renaming, according to Wiki.  But perhaps SunOS was isolated from her in order to undergo the remergence as Solaris, and that was something she may have always resented (and more so after SpringOS died).

Did SunOS-tan choose to have her identity change? But she does regret and resent it because she wasn't able to spend as much time with SpringOS-tan since then.

Yeah, that was another huge conflicting emotional overload. Or more like the years of bottled up negative emotions were the overload, and Lisa-tan's conflicting love/hate towards her sisters was just overkill....

But oh my gosh, Lisa-tan really did care even though she could never express it!

Shouldn't be too hard to believe.  Last I heard, System 6-san is in the same boat.  ^^

True, although to a much lesser extent. Still needs to confess though ¬__¬
...

No, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
*crawls back into ditch*

Even though I haven't drawn her in ages, I want to continue to paint ZX-chan as a very rich and deep character -- who, despite her age, is still able to carry out and compile vast amounts of research, all written in an eloquent 19th century-style writing.  You know, the kind that makes something even as mundane as a field analysis of fruit fly feeding patterns a joy to read.  ^.^

She is such a great character! It's a shame I haven't drawn any fanart of her yet! However, she will be an important character in my second OS-tan flashback story! (darn, I still need to finish the first one though >__<)

Well it would be if she found that out immediately, as in "Hi!  Welcome back, Rip Van Winkle-ette.  And oh yeah, your whole family's dead.  Sorry."

But I'm aiming that she'll spend many months/years with the vintage-tans, getting to know them, have fun with them, and start to rebuild her life with some tacit understanding of modern concepts.  In a sense, she would mature, and in so doing lose a lot of her old childlike fears.  The kind acceptance of EXEC-sama probably would have inspired her too.

That latter scenario is so much better, happier and simply makes a great story of GENIAC-chan overcoming her fears of isolation and being in a time period so different from her own and how EXEC-sama learns to feel useful again and how they benefit from their friendship with each other! So much better! ;010

The former scenario would be just awful and bleak

Well, you basically answered your own question.  Fufu... ^____________^

Don't forget that EXEC-sama's defining trait is her RIDICULOUSLY long hair.  I'm aiming for a length of about 10 meters or so -- but while it's very wide and fluffy from her head down to her feet, it generally trails behind as one gigantic ponytail.  And of course, haircuts are deadly -- especially since extensions for her hair type haven't been manufactured in over 40 years.  @.@;

Okay, I have a general idea for how she should look: 10 meter-long hair in ponytail, really old-fashioned outfit (Renaissance-era, maybe? Or maybe 18th century-style because of the really crazy, complex, several-layered dresses that the upper class wore back then!) although I have no idea for the color scheme though.

It has also been mentioned that haircuts are highly painful to her. Can't she just take a lot of painkillers or even go under anesthesia when going to the barber shop?

Well,... it DOES have a VERY... canny.... resemblance.... to... what ZX-chan wears,... minus the hat.  ^^;

Ahahahaha! That coincidence works very nicely!
----

I really like the ideas for Oralux-tan! Seeing-eye chickens... And I thought I've seen everything these days! But she better keep it away from the likes of XP-tan, FreeBSD-tan, Mimail-tan, Slashdot-tan, and Fark-tan/TotalFark-tan!

[Siya]

I have plans for ONE blind OS-tan (TPF-san), but can't see why we can't have another one.  

I'm thinking of a compromise situation:  she's blind, but also carries around a cute seeing-eye chicken.  ^__^

Excellent suggestion!

I really like the ideas for Oralux-tan! Seeing-eye chickens... And I thought I've seen everything these days! But she better keep it away from the likes of XP-tan, FreeBSD-tan, Mimail-tan, Slashdot-tan, and Fark-tan/TotalFark-tan!

*gasp*  You're right!  She'd fit right in with Abraxas-tan and FCL-tan!

[C-Chan]

Oh. Still, even a 6 meter-tall Beowulf cluster-tan is more than a match for almost everyone. Although I was kinda hoping a Beowulf cluster-tan would be able to put up a decent fight against mainframe-tan (if a situation ever called for it).

Oh you can.  Just get 100 Beowulf spell-capable OS-tans together, and for sure they can put up a good fight -- at least for the more "normal-sized" mainframe-tans (z/OS-sama is tall even by their standards).

Problem is trying to get enough of them to cast the spell properly.  The Beowulf Cluster spell is heavily dependent on group synergy -- so everyone literally must be of sound mind and body in order to make the spell stable (especially when you add more people to the pool).  

While the LUC members COULD form a veritable ARMY of Beowulf Cluster-tans, do you think that'd ever happen?!  ^^;

More than likely their giant chimeras would dissolve into BLOBS of bickering and animosity before they'd even break the 50 foot mark.  ^____^;

Holy craaaaaap!

"There's a giant on the loose!"
"EVERYBODY PANIC!!"
"Who will save the children?!"
"Forget the children, RUN FOR YOUR FREAKING LIVES BEFORE SHE SQUASHES YOU LIKE A BUG!"
'AAAaAAAAAh!"
(everyone seen running and screaming)

z/OS: Puny humans, I'm just trying to go shopping! Be nice or I will purposely destroy the town! MUAHAHAHAhA!

Barring the fact that she's too uptight to do evil laughter, you have it nailed!  ^.^

Now you're making me want to start the z/OS-sama project again.  *sigh* I just can't focus on one thing, can I?  ^^;

No,... I have to really concentrate on getting it together!  ^0^

Get it together... Get it together... Get it together...

Did SunOS-tan choose to have her identity change? But she does regret and resent it because she wasn't able to spend as much time with SpringOS-tan since then.

I would say not.  Very few company-based OS-tans ever choose anything.  If they could, I doubt the original Commodore-tans would have ever fired their "Father", in order to have the company run by people incapable of making a proper commercial even.  ^^;

No, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
*crawls back into ditch*

Hmmm.... ^.^

....

*mischievous grin*  ^w^

*starts using tiny shovel to toss dirt into ditch*

Fufufu.... ^o^

She is such a great character! It's a shame I haven't drawn any fanart of her yet! However, she will be an important character in my second OS-tan flashback story! (darn, I still need to finish the first one though >__<)

Get it together too... Get it together too... Get it together too...

That latter scenario is so much better, happier and simply makes a great story of GENIAC-chan overcoming her fears of isolation and being in a time period so different from her own and how EXEC-sama learns to feel useful again and how they benefit from their friendship with each other! So much better!  

The former scenario would be just awful and bleak  

*mischievous grin*  On the other hand, the second scenario is easier to draw.  ^w^

Fufufu...  Sorry, I'm on a mischievous streak or something.  ^_____^;

Okay, I have a general idea for how she should look: 10 meter-long hair in ponytail, really old-fashioned outfit (Renaissance-era, maybe? Or maybe 18th century-style because of the really crazy, complex, several-layered dresses that the upper class wore back then!) although I have no idea for the color scheme though.

I would probably aim for Renaissance era, if only because she predates the era of stuffy, "Let them eat cake" OS-tans.  If anything, she would be like a more antiquated CTSS-sama -- and on the same veign, some fusion of Renaissance era dress with some other interesting culture of your choice would be the way to go.  ^__^

Physically, I've only used Mahoro-chan (from Mahoromatic) as her anime base, if only because of her old lady-like innocence, quaint mannerisms and disdain for violence and perversity.  Being familiar with Howl's Moving Castle would help a lot too with her personality, as it's chock full of granny figures you can admire.  ^^

As far as her colors go, try referring to old color photos of the UNIVAC computers for some inspiration.  That usually works for me every once in a while.  ^^

It has also been mentioned that haircuts are highly painful to her. Can't she just take a lot of painkillers or even go under anesthesia when going to the barber shop?

Well her hair is actually more of an extension of her brain -- the more you cut off, the more damage you can do, not just to her intelligence and reflexes, but also basic motor and respiratory functions.  Shaving it off completely or even just shoulder-length is outright fatal.  @__@

And since her company has been gone for ages,taking with them the only means to perform any kind of corrective surgery needed for an upgrade, she has to stay like that forever.  Her hair then is like her own "strings".

I really like the ideas for Oralux-tan! Seeing-eye chickens... And I thought I've seen everything these days! But she better keep it away from the likes of XP-tan, FreeBSD-tan, Mimail-tan, Slashdot-tan, and Fark-tan/TotalFark-tan!

Whoops!  Guess the Byte Me pizzeria is getting another customer.  ^^;

*gasp* You're right! She'd fit right in with Abraxas-tan and FCL-tan!

See what I mean?  ^^

[Aurora Borealis]

Oh you can.  Just get 100 Beowulf spell-capable OS-tans together, and for sure they can put up a good fight -- at least for the more "normal-sized" mainframe-tans (z/OS-sama is tall even by their standards).

No one can beat z/OS-sama, can they? ;012

Problem is trying to get enough of them to cast the spell properly.  The Beowulf Cluster spell is heavily dependent on group synergy -- so everyone literally must be of sound mind and body in order to make the spell stable (especially when you add more people to the pool).  

I see. It is possible for a Beowulf Cluster-tan to take on some mainframe-tans but to do so requires more OS-tans and trying to get the spells to be stable gets increasingly difficult.

While the LUC members COULD form a veritable ARMY of Beowulf Cluster-tans, do you think that'd ever happen?!  ^^;

HAHAHAHAHA! No. Too much clashing.

"I want to be the one to initiate the spell!"
"No, I'm a sorceress, darnit!"
"Hey! You just set my head on fire! I'm suing!"
"Eww... I don't want to be next to HER!"
"Don't make me smack you with my suitcase..."
"Can I be next to Unix-sama? Tee hee..."
"AAAAAAUGH! FSCK THIS! I HAD ENOUGH OF ALL YOUR BULL****!"

More than likely their giant chimeras would dissolve into BLOBS of bickering and animosity before they'd even break the 50 foot mark.  ^____^;

Like in my demonstration!

Holy craaaaaap!

"There's a giant on the loose!"
"EVERYBODY PANIC!!"
"Who will save the children?!"
"Forget the children, RUN FOR YOUR FREAKING LIVES BEFORE SHE SQUASHES YOU LIKE A BUG!"
'AAAaAAAAAh!"
(everyone seen running and screaming)

z/OS: Puny humans, I'm just trying to go shopping! Be nice or I will purposely destroy the town! MUAHAHAHAhA!

Barring the fact that she's too uptight to do evil laughter, you have it nailed!  ^.^

What, no maniacal laughter from someone of her stature with an ego to match? ;013

Now you're making me want to start the z/OS-sama project again.  *sigh* I just can't focus on one thing, can I?  ^^;

I can't either ^^;

No,... I have to really concentrate on getting it together!  ^0^

Get it together... Get it together... Get it together...

That's the spirit!

I would say not.  Very few company-based OS-tans ever choose anything.  If they could, I doubt the original Commodore-tans would have ever fired their "Father", in order to have the company run by people incapable of making a proper commercial even.  ^^;

Not to mention that the founder of Commodore left, started his own company that merged with Atari and created the Atari ST which was one of the biggest competitors to the Commodores!

And of course most of us know about Steve Jobs leaving Apple, founding NeXT but returning back to Apple to implement NeXTSTEP technology in a new generation of Mac OS.

It is not completely surprising that SunOS-tan didn't choose to change her identity. Most OS-tans who had identity changes didn't choose to.
Ex: Linspire-tan (got sued by M$ to force name change), Mac OS 7.7-tan (changed to Mac OS 8 to exploit a legal loophole in liscensing Mac Clones- they were only liscensed to run Mac OS 7.x), Mac OS 8.7-tan (changed to Mac OS 9 but changed back to 8.7 or Sonata because of the lawsuit from OS-9's company but the suit got thrown out, Apple allowed to use Mac OS 9).

However on the other hand, System 4.4-tan chose to change her identity! (although in secrecy, hence 4.4-tan's alleged disappearance)

Hmmm.... ^.^

....

*mischievous grin*  ^w^

*starts using tiny shovel to toss dirt into ditch*

Fufufu.... ^o^

Hey, what are you doing-- Aaaaaaaaah! That must be revenge for me putting you in a bed of lettuce and tomato while you were sleeping! I deserve it! *sniffle*

Get it together too... Get it together too... Get it together too...

I'll try. Not making any promises here but I'll try and get it together too... Get it together too...

*mischievous grin*  On the other hand, the second scenario is easier to draw.  ^w^

Fufufu...  Sorry, I'm on a mischievous streak or something.  ^_____^;

Me too!

I would probably aim for Renaissance era, if only because she predates the era of stuffy, "Let them eat cake" OS-tans.  If anything, she would be like a more antiquated CTSS-sama -- and on the same veign, some fusion of Renaissance era dress with some other interesting culture of your choice would be the way to go.  ^__^

That is a better choice, and distances her from that stuffy generation!
Btw, when was EXEC first released? I could not find a release date for it.


But here is a preconcept sketch!

Went with the color scheme of the UNIVAC machines (although the dark blue hair was just supposed to be a throwback to Mahoro, her anime inspiration)

Since I had a hard time trying to put a bunch of red and gold gems on her dress (what I originally intended, to refer to the blinking red lights with gold rims), I decided to give her some gold and ruby jewelry instead (and I thought going with the gem-studded dress would have looked too extravagent)

Well her hair is actually more of an extension of her brain -- the more you cut off, the more damage you can do, not just to her intelligence and reflexes, but also basic motor and respiratory functions.  Shaving it off completely or even just shoulder-length is outright fatal.  @__@

Whoa... I didn't know it was to that extent! I bet that she has a huge fear of scissors and barbershops...

And since her company has been gone for ages,taking with them the only means to perform any kind of corrective surgery needed for an upgrade, she has to stay like that forever.  Her hair then is like her own "strings".

That's really unfortunate