Me-tan

First. Not a Microsoft mascot. Netrunner's later card use was contested by the creator.

Design

Green hair in pigtail braids, green eyes, ahoge, blue maid dress with white apron, orange/red bow using the Windows Me error / restore exclamation. Moeverse notes an early darker dress that shifted toward Me's product colors after board comments. The creator called the design somewhat random and expected it to drift; besides color, the cowlick is what grew.

A visual resemblance to Canal Vorfeed (Lost Universe) is commonly noted. That is a likely 1998 anime influence, not an official crossover. Know Your Meme still shows early sketch vs finished maid as the origin pair.

The joke

Windows Me was the 9x-line consumer OS opposite Windows 2000. It froze. Me-tan therefore freezes. She is clumsy, kind, hardworking, and still fails — OSC and TV Tropes both freeze that reading. 2K-tan is often drawn as her guardian because 2000 was the stable twin. She carries a negi because NEGiES sounded like the word for scallion; sometimes a crowbar shows up instead.

After 2003

She is a lead in Trouble Windows (April 2004). She is in the Ohzora fanbook and the Wonder Festival / PVC figure line. OSC lists her among canon Windows-tans. English memory of 'the OS-tan' is often just her plus XP.

Gallery

See also

2K-tan2K-tan personifies Windows 2000: glasses, mechanical cat-ear clips, the reliable sister and Me-tan's guardian.XP-tanXP-tan (Saseko) personifies Windows XP Professional: the memory-hog sister, designed by XP Kaki-Aki / Nac.History of OS-tanFrom Me-tan on Futaba in August 2003 through Trouble Windows, English spread, DSP Madobe campaigns, and the 2020s Futaba girls.ControversiesMe-tan vs Netrunner, NT-tan vs Deja Vu, Vista design wars, and later confusion between fan girls and DSP mascots.Trouble WindowsTrouble Windows is a 2004 Flash fake anime opening that carried OS-tan out of Futaba and later named a 2005 fanbook.