Introduction
The Mainframe is my OS-tan universe created by me, Sinclair-Speccy. Originally made in 2019 as Appendix it has gone through several reworks to remove outdated ideas that I no longer use or support. The principle behind The Mainframe is simple: I personify what I want, how I want, without any larger body dictating what is or isn’t allowed or considered a "-tan". It tries to avoid glurge while incorporating more male characters and lesser-known OSes, computers and related technologies. The name change in 2021 marked a fresh start for the project. Initially, The Mainframe focused on personifying iPhones and similar devices, but unlike other OS-tan universes, it also extends to computing-adjacent subjects: mechanical calculators, analogue computers and even concepts like Frutiger Aero.
The Mainframe may have been one of the first (if not the first, based on when I started) to create recurring characters for mobile devices. Most mobile-related OS-tans tend to be one-shot designs, but my goal is to give depth to a group of characters that previously only existed as oneshot characters. While these characters are currently being reworked older notes dating back to 2019, including the first iPhone personifications from July 11th, 2019, can be found in the Internal Archives under "Other Stuff."
I was part of various OS-tan-related communities between 2019 and 2023, which you can read more about in the relevant subsections of this introduction.
A Note on History and Inspirations
While some aspects of The Mainframe may reflect real-life computing history, this project is not an attempt to rewrite computing history itself. That would be nearly impossible without heavy compromises and frankly, I have no intention of completing such a thing. My work here is shaped by my personal interests including Transformers, Star Wars and other media, so elements from those influences may appear throughout the project.
Approach to Worldbuilding & Character Creation
Don’t expect deep worldbuilding or extensive lore on factions and conflicts. I enjoy creating characters far more than writing detailed histories of wars or political crap. If you're looking for a complex universe, you likely won’t find it here.
Characters are not created in any specific order. I originally planned to follow a structured release approach but found it too restrictive. Instead, I create characters when I feel inspired and motivated. While I do intend to cover major OS releases and significant hardware, I will also pick and choose what to personify based on personal interest.
Content & Warnings
While most of The Mainframe is family-friendly, not all parts of it are. Certain pages such as the one for Windows 95-tan, contain content that may not be suitable for some people. These pages will have warning banners at the top to indicate this.
Key Learnings
At the time of writing this it has been roughly 5 years since I have been a member of the OS-tan fandom and during those 5 years, I like to believe I learned some stuff as although it helped me make my own ideas it changed me as a human being as a whole. As for what it taught? I learned the following:
- If you don’t like another person’s idea for a character, just remake them with your own ideas! I like to feel I learned this the hard way from being constrained to ideas that had already existed at the time when I joined 5 years ago but feeling like I had to use them as they were the “canon” characters.
- Research well, research properly. For my iPhone OS 1 character I did not research properly which resulted in them being the daughter of Tiger-tan instead of Leopard-tan since I misread an article about the original iPhone, stating that Mac OS X Tiger was released when the iPhone 2G came out.
- There should have never been a monopoly on OS-tans. This is kind of complex to explain but at the time there was only one place for OS-tan ideas that had been around since 2006. Now that is roughly 16 years and in those 16 years, that place slowly made its way to Wikipedia and some other places as the “main source” of information because no other place really existed at that time. Then in 2019 another place came along to battle that monopoly which had a strict canon, but fell too soon.
- Be nice to some people. You can be nice to some, but not all.
- Discussing your ideas may help with making new ideas. I used to be that kid who thought everyone was trying to hijack my ideas but in the end, I realised if you discuss your ideas with people who like the same stuff you may get new ideas.
- Try to ignore people who hate you. This was the hardest thing to try and learn since I’m still learning it.
Extra stuff no one is going to care about.
In all honestly from what I have seen and experienced myself, I am very sure OS-tans won't really make a comeback or a "full revival" unless we get an official Windows 11-tan. The fandom is so niche and the heydays of the OS-tan fandom are gone, mainly because the people from the fandom’s heyday have moved on with real life stuff or simply vanished off the internet.
I see people every once in a blue moon very interested in reviving the fandom like I once was in 2018, but at this rate it’s pretty much dead. If you are a person who wants to talk about OS-tans you can go to one of the two major wikis or the subreddit discord for r/OStans.
I'm 99% sure most people just wanna read up on OS-tans and draw art of them instead of making whole universes with huge lore and all the stuff. If you are someone reading this who wants to do this however, make it offsite as with its own website with Neocities or wiki hosted via Miraheze. I encourage this so you can do stuff with your own rules freely without having a larger body hover over it.