OS-tan

OS-tan (OSたん) is an internet meme consisting of anthropomorphization of operating systems.

Overview

This is one of the most common names for anthropomorphic OS, and is often applied to OS personifications that originated from Futaba Channel.

They tend to have traits based operating system they respectively represent. They also are called by names and/or nicknames taken from real OS products.

It is believed it started with the personification of Windows Me who grew on the users on Futuaba. She has become to what she is known as now as Me-tan.

In the start it was only Windows' products being made into characters but there have been others down the line much as the MacOS, Linux, and Linspire.

The female characters are known as OS Girls (OS娘) while their male counterparts are known as OS-kuns (OS君).

Characters

Refer to the article of List of OS-tan Characters for details.

Outside Japan

When a fansub of Troubled Windows, a flash animated music video, the characters grew in popularity within English speaking imageboards. Boards 4chan, wakachan and idlechan gave English translations on some comic strips.

Wired News rated OS-tan among the "Lamest Technology Mascots Ever", yet "strangely compelling".

Multimedia

One of the most popular works is Troubled Windows, becoming almost another name for OS-tan. It has also branched off into a fanbook with figures and present itself as an imaginary franchise.

There has also been other animations such as Trouble Brave (とらぶるうぃんどうず), OS Pittan, Love Love OS, Sakura-tan, OS-tan IDOLM@STER, Nijiura Tenshi OS-tan (にじうら天使OSたん) and much more. As well as ones made in MMD.

Controversy

OS-tan has fall into a lot of controversy when it comes to copyright. Despite this, the brands the characters where parody as was never one of them.

Whether it came from the OS-tans themselves, Microsoft branches in Singapore and Taiwan have made their own personification of Internet Explorer (Inori Aizawa), who also uses the tan suffix when called Internet Explorer-tan) and Microsoft Silverlight (Hikaru Aizawa).

Dengeki Daioh

One of them comes from Vol.5 of the Dengeki Daioh magazine. They published a Troubled Windows story, they had to cancelled after only one episode.

DejaVu

Doujin circle DejaVu has tried to claim ownership of several designs. They have made a few doujinshis of the characters going by Shared Fol-DA (共有フォルDA!).

One of their works also gain controversy for the design of NT-tan. She is shown within the comic as a very strict and harsh teacher for a young 2k-tan.

Because of this the OS-tan community deemed her as a bootleg design and talking about it is seen as taboo.