A/UX

Apple Unix-tan
Character Information
Common Names	A/UX-tan
Other Names	Space Cadet
Appearance
Design
Creator	Aurora Borealis
First Appearance	Mar 2007
Technical Information
System Personified	A/UX
Developer(s)	Apple
Debut	Feb 1988
Latest release	A/UX 3.1.1 (1995)

Description

A/UX is Apple's first attempt at a Unix-based OS with the Mac OS GUI. Is mainly used in servers, including one still used at NASA. A/UX-tan is represented as a tall, blue-haired pig girl with curly pigtails and wears part of a spacesuit as well as pilots a rocketship and loves to daydream, references to two of A/UX's codenames: Pigs in Space and Space Cadet. Her red bandana and fondness of wrestling are a reference to Hulk Hogan, another codename. Her other main interests are astronomy and space travel.

Personality-wise, A/UX-tan is very tomboyish, a daydreamer and although she is intimidating at a first glance, she can be helpful and is very straightforward, reference to the Commando utility in A/UX that allows for choosing command line options with simple controls. She affectionately calls the Mac-tans her 'kids' as a term of endearment because those older than her are rather short, no taller than 4'4 [132 cm] (except for Mac System 5-tan who is of average height but invisible to her) and as also part of an age complex she has.

Although she is a Unix-tan, she does not consider the Unices to be her family, but rather the Apple-tans who she lived with in her childhood and up to 1996. She has been a wanderer since then when she got evicted from the Apple family as a cost-cutting measure during the OS wars and because she was very costly to keep around and not very successful.

She is often accompanied by Newton-tan, a fellow wanderer from Apple that also got fired during the 90's. Despite eviction, A/UX-tan still has close ties to the family and is allowed to visit and does stop by every so often.

OSC Notes

In her youth, A/UX-tan was trained to be very strict and professional with very high standards held to her since so much money was invested in her. She was prohibited from mingling with the general public, only allowed to be around very high-end users. She enjoyed being around the Apple-tans (especially Mac System 6-tan, who she also has a friendly rivalry with) but was discouraged from 'childish behavior' and often too busy trying to fulfill what her company wanted from her.

Although her pro-Apple stance was obvious, she was not considered a traitor to the Unices since she remained unaligned and did not participate in the Unix wars at all. However, by not participating in the Unix wars, she avoided competition in the battlefield but was out-competed by the other Unices in terms of popularity, attention and sales which ultimately led to her eviction.

A/UX-tan saw her eviction as a mixed blessing. She was sad that she had to leave the Apple family and for being such a burden but was happy that the strict dress codes and very high standards she was held to no longer applied and she finally had the freedom to do the things she has wanted to do all those years.

External links

• Wikipedia article on A/UX
• A/UX article on applefritter.com: A/UX, The Unix for the rest of us?