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This is a list of OS-tans, which are named after the operating system and the Japanese suffix "-tan" (たん) which is an overly cute mispronunciation of, specifically a child's slurring of, "-chan" (ちゃん), a diminutive honorific for a person. They may be simply called OS Girls, and are the personification of several operating systems, most famously Microsoft Windows, by various (amateur) artists, the overwhelming majority of them being users of the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel. A pure fan creation, the appearance of each character is mostly consistent across artists. OSes are almost always portrayed as women, the Windows girls usually as sisters, despite sometimes seeming the same age.

The OS girls

Windows

ME

The more cutesy personification of the much maligned and infamously unreliable Windows Me OS, ME-tan's appearance rarely varies and was the first OS-tan created, by the one now called "ME-aki". TREND MICRO Virus Response Service. She is instantly recognizable; she has green hair in long pigtails and wears a maid outfit with a ! badge on the front in the spirit of the Windows yellow error icon. ME-tan is a hard worker and always wants to help her master (Toshiaki), but predictably fails at everything she tries to do, and often literally crashing and irritating her sisters. When she is not frozen or out of control, she tends to do things showing a lack of common sense or knowledge, such as putting soda into a microwave oven or attempting to kill people by swinging a scallion (see here). In spite of, or perhaps due to, her pitiful plight, the clumsy ME-tan is one of the most beloved OS girls.

XP

XP is a dark-haired girl wearing the XP logo as a hair ribbon.