CPCMS

CP/CMS
Character Information
Common Names	CP/CMS
Other Names	CMS, Control Program/Cambridge Monitor System
Faction	Mainframe Guild
Lineage	IBM, MIT
Rival(s)	Various IBM OS-tans
Appearance
Hair Color	Brown
Eye Color	Green
Weapon(s)	Various forms of sorcery; longbow
Design
First Appearance	2008
Technical Information
System Personified	CP/CMS
Developer(s)	IBM Cambridge Scientific Center
Debut	May 1968
Latest release	v. 3.2 / 1972

Technical details

CP/CMS is a pioneering timesharing operating system for the System/360 mainframe. Developed by IBM's Cambridge Scientific Center in the 1960s and 70s, CP/CMS was novel for its goals, development process, implementation of many new technologies and having an "open source"-like release model, with its source code being made available to IBM customers and developers at no charge. While CP/CMS was a somewhat unpopular OS among IBM users, it maintained a loyal user- and developer-base, prototyped the free software/Open Source model and had a major impact on emerging software technologies - notably time-sharing and virtualization.

CP/CMS contributed directly to the IBM VM OS line, as well as the System/370's architecture.

Character details

General

CP/CMS-tan is depicted as a tall, elegant and athletically-built woman. Her strong features and short hairdo give her something of a boyish appearance, however her demeanor is androgynous and style of dress split between feminine and masculine - like many other OS-tans of her time, her formal-wear is complex and typically consisting of baroque gowns, but her combat and athletic attire is light and utilitarian.

CMS-tan's personality remains something of a mystery, however it is known that she is generally affable, energetic and perhaps a bit brash. An extremely skilled magic-wielder, she pioneered many forms of OS-tan sorcery and in particular contributed to the field of "open sourcery" - although it did not go by that name in her time.

History and background

Early life and Prime

CP/CMS-tan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in an IBM territory with ties to MIT and Harvard. However her parent company was suspicious and fearful of her powers from the start and did everything they could to keep her in a second-class position - lest she gain enough power and political influence to displace, or even destroy, her rival IBM OS-tans (especially OS/360-tan and the other popular System/360 OSes). Her upbringing compounded her alienation, as she had almost no contact with other IBM-tans and was raised as an MIT-tan - CTSS-tan acting as a mother-figure, and ITS and Multics becoming veritable sisters.

CTSS-tan taught CMS-tan many forms of sorcery and helped form her magical skills. Despite specializing in similar forms of magic, Multics and CMS never viewed each other as rivals - on the contrary, they had a close and supportive relationship that lasted throughout their lives. And while she received little monetary support or encouragement from her parent-company, CMS amassed a large following of supporters who were more than willing to sacrifice time and money to keep her afloat and further her research.

Status today

CMS-tan's status is currently unknown.