Windows 3.1
 | “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! |
| Windows 3.1-tan | |
| |
| Character Information | |
|---|---|
| Common Names | Windows 3.1 |
| Other Names | Windows 3.0, Windows 3.x, WfW 3.11 |
| Faction | Windows Family |
| Lineage | DOS/Win9x |
| Appearance | |
| Height | *none listed officially |
| Hair Color | grey |
| Eye Color | red |
| Design | |
| First Appearance | Unknown |
| Technical Information | |
| System Personified | Windows 3.0 - 3.11 |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Debut | March 22, 1990 |
| Latest release | v3.11 (December 1993) |
Character Details
General
Windows 3.1-tan (3.1たん) was one of the less common Windows personifications but is now part of the OS-tan canon. The first appearances of Windows 3.1 have used a white mech-box similar to that used by 98 and 98SE, piloted by a girl who appears to be DOS/V.
The portrayal that became part of the OS-tan canon is that of a frail grey-haired young girl in a long frilly violet gown, with a 3.1 brooch on her collar. She has a quiet personality and is usually accompanied by either a black cat (sometimes nicknamed DOS Kitty) or a small black-haired catgirl in a nurse's outfit, both representing DOS 6.22. She is often seen with Windows NT-tan and 95-tan but has an inseparable relationship with DOS Kitty as Windows 3.x is highly dependent on DOS compared to its successors which mainly used a stripped-down version for booting.
She was usually depicted as being quiet and deadpan, but now depictions of her being cheerful and carefree are about equally common.
Family and Relationships
OSC!Windows 1.0 and 2.0
In OSC-based continuity, 3.1-tan was very close to 1.0-tan and 2.0-tan in childhood, but currently only has a patchy memory of them. A possible interpretation was that part of her memory was wiped after 1.0-tan and 2.0-tan were exiled. Or if she remembers them, she knows she cannot speak of them to the rest of her family, who don't know or remember them.
Futaba!Windows 1.0
In Futaba-based OS-tan continuity, 3.1-tan is emotionally the closest to Futaba!1.0-tan, and they are usually seen together.
Within the Windows Family
She is close to NT-tan, 95-tan and MS-DOS-tan, but is generally distant from the rest. Sometimes in pictures, she's seen together with ME-tan, and there have been jokes about 3.1-tan being the littlest sister of the family since she's smaller than the petite ME-tan, and often looks younger than her as well.
Windows 3.2
In OSC-based continuity, 3.1-tan knows of 3.2-tan, who was created as her Chinese-speaking counterpart for a now-defunct cadet branch of the family. They actually aren't twin sisters, though they're thought to be by those who have seen them together; 3.1-tan also represents the original Windows 3.0 (released in 1990), while 3.2 was released at the same time as 3.1.
The Mac-tans
Whether or not she took an active role in the OS Wars, leading or supporting the forces that seized much of the Macs' territory, she is assumed to be largely indifferent towards them, and the family meetings between the Windows and Mac families. She did have rivalries with System 6-tan and System 7-tan, but these rivalries were still fairly civil, far from the tactics of the OS Wars a few years later.
Alternate Character Interpretation
Her more cheerful depictions may be this, as are her roles in NT's and 95's early lives, and her role if any in the OS Wars. She may be portrayed as a character with a history stuck between two eras, first taking part in the chivalrous showdowns with the early Mac-tans and home computer-tans in the early 90's, then having to take part in the unprecedented scorched-earth tactics against those same rivals during the OS Wars. This would suggest that if she fought in the OS Wars, either she did so reluctantly but wanting to be supportive of her family (while avoiding the fate of the conscientious objector Windows 2.0-tan), or she eagerly took part, once again in support for her family, but regretted it later because of the extreme measures taken.
History and Background
It was previously thought that 3.1-tan would have been a civilian supporting the Windows Family on the sidelines during the OS Wars, but fairly recently, pictures depicting 3.1-tan in military uniforms and wielding a sword suggest a another character interpretation; that she may have taken a more proactive role in the wars.
See also: