XP-tan
 | “If possible, could I have some more?” This article could be expanded on and use more details, and needs them as much as XP-tan needs more RAM! |
| XP-tan | |
| |
| Character Information | |
|---|---|
| Common Names | XP-tan, Saseko |
| Other Names | XP-chan, XP Pro, Windows Experience, Whistler |
| Appearance | |
| Height | *none listed officially, estimates have her in the 165-175 cm range (5'5"-5'9") |
| Hair Color | Black (officially), sometimes brown or dark blue. |
| Eye Color | Blue or dark grey |
| Design | |
| First Appearance | 2004 |
| Origin | Futaba Channel |
| Technical Information | |
| System Personified | Windows XP Professional |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Debut | 21 Oct 2001 |
| Latest release | Service Pack 3 (21 Apr 2008) |
Character Details
General
XP-tan is a dark-haired girl with ribbons in her hair and an XP hair ornament worn on the left side (infrequently, she is depicted with ornaments on both sides). As Windows XP was originally criticized for bloating a system and being very pretty without being equally as useful, XP-tan wears tight clothing and has large breasts. An early alternate outfit was especially skimpy, wearing a blue miniskirt, high-heeled shoes, and a midriff-bearing tube top with "XP" on the breasts. see here for an example. She usually dresses in a blue and white stylized schoolgirl outfit with ribbons and detached sleeves for decoration.
Also, as Windows XP used up large amounts of memory for its time, XP-tan is often seen eating or holding an empty bowl labeled "Memory".
Around 2014 there was a surge of art of XP-tan in observation of Windows XP's extended support being ended by Microsoft on April 8th, 2014. Despite this Windows XP still occasionally received security patches, with the last one being in May 2019.
Early Characterization
When the OS-tan phenomenon was in its early stages, XP was at the time the current Windows OS, and was heavily criticized. XP-tan's personality is often portrayed as shallow and promiscuous; the latter may reference not just the eye candy interface, but also the large number of security exploits XP had early in its lifetime. There is a strip where 2K-tan derides XP-tan and calls her an "Activation Whore" since XP required activation over the phone or internet to set up; this was a change in Windows that was widely criticized at the time. She generally fills the role in the manga as the typical eye candy character, but alternate interpretations may be starting to change this.
Shift in Characterization
The portrayal of XP-tan as a shallow piece of bloated eye candy seems to have changed ever since the debut of Windows Vista, its much higher hardware requirements and even fancier interface. In hindsight, XP had very high requirements for its time, but nowadays is able to run well on low-end computers, and XP's Luna GUI is simple-looking compared to Vista's and 7's Aero. While XP-tan may still be portrayed as dense and a big eater, she's now more likely to be seen as more reliable, dependable and practical than she ever was before.
Depictions
Deja Vu Works
In Deja Vu's doujins, she is seen as a somewhat dense but undeniably beautiful and envied character, easily compared to Mikuru Asahina from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu. She has had the most hentai scenes out of any of the OSes, much due to her large breasts, often drawn comically huge. However, her characteristically large breasts are envied by most other characters.
Homeo Saga
She is somewhat involved in the Homeo saga, playing a minor role as a foil to Homeko.
Expanded Universe
In the expanded universe, she is one of the most diplomatic Windows-tans, and has worked side-by-side with Mac OSX Tiger-tan and Leopard-tan in bootcamp. She is more open-minded than most of the older Windows-tans, and wants to ensure harmony between the Windows and Mac families.
Annex Project
She is a member of the Windows Family faction.
Usage Rights
The designer and owner of XP-tan has put out usage guidelines for her that translate to the following:
Regarding general personal activities that do not go through commercial sales channels (such as the production of derivative works such as doujinshi and non-commercial websites), Regarding the use of 4 characters: "XP-tan", "Dr. Norton", "Buster", and "DOS Prompt" We declare that we will not impose any restrictions or restrictions (you are free to use it as you please). Please note that we do not grant any license to Softbank Publishing Corp. to use the above characters.
Trivia
- Her nickname "Saseko"(させこ) corresponds to the kana syllables "sa"(さ) and "Se"(せ), which on a Japanese keyboard are on the "X" and "P" keys, with the "ko"(こ) at the end of her name being a common ending for female Japanese names.
