OS-tan

On Futaba-derived image boards, "tan" is sometimes used as a generic term for any such personification.

History

A large collection of these images can be found here. Some of the comics have been translated by readers on 4chan and idlechan. They have been archived at Trouble Windows Translations, along with the japanese counterparts. There are still many raw comics left and new translations or corrections of previous ones are always welcome.
A collection of avatar images based on the OS-tan characters has been created by members of the Megatokyo forums, which are available here.

There also exists a Macromedia Flash Animation showing a possible intro to a hypothetical, but highly unlikely, anime show, Troubled Windows
(とらぶる．ういんどうず). It features interactivity, where the viewer can click to cause different visuals in the animation. A fansub of this has been created, and can be found here. The fansub, however, is a video file, and is not interactive. The music is Sakuranbo Kiss (さくらんぼキッス ～爆発だも～ん～), by KOTOKO, which was originally the opening theme from a romance simulation game known as Colorful Kiss (カラフルキッス～１２コの胸キュン！～), released by GIGA. An ending theme called OS-Pittan also exists. The music is Futari no Xenopittan(ふたりのぜのぴったん), a remix version of Futari no Mojipittan, a song from the PS2 word puzzle game Mojipittan. The song was made for a game based on Mojipittan called Xenopittan, which features characters and terminology from the Playstation 2 game Xenosaga. It is found on a fan disc for Xenosaga, known as Xenosaga Freaks.
It can be heard at the end of the medley found here. The song was sung by voice actresses Maeda Ai (who voiced Shion Uzuki in Xenosaga), Suzuki Mariko (who voiced KOS-MOS in the same game), and Shishido Rumi (who voiced MOMO in the same game). Both flash files can be viewed here. Also, as a satire, Bill Gates was mentioned in the credit of this hypothetical anime (after about 50 seconds).

Mac OS X, Linux, and Linspire girls have also shown up on the internet, although some non-OS male characters exist for programs and hardware. Norton Antivirus is usually portrayed as a creepy looking, possibly lecherous old doctor.

References and in-jokes

Scallion

Also, the scallion (green onion) may also be a clever reference to the famous Yoshinoya Rant of 2ch (referring to the preferred beef-bowl order of the Yoshinoya Veteran).

Movement against Netrunner

However, the May 2004 issue of Netrunner was bundled with a set of trading cards, depicting (among others) many original characters from Futaba-including ME-tan. As this was done without permission from the original designer of ME-tan, many people became angry with Netrunner, and the designer of ME-tan announced that it will never grant permission to use any of its work to anyone related to Netrunner.

Furthermore, users from Futaba produced a series of banners and images, indicating that it doesn't welcome anyone related to Netrunner. Several OS-tans were also included in these banners.

In one OS-tan manga, 2K-tan and XP-tan break into Netoran's office (or literally "Netrun", an abbreviation of Netrunner) to rescue the abducted ME-tan, only to find that ME-tan has already killed everybody there using a knife with the name "B. Gate" (as in Bill Gates) on it. 2K-tan and XP-tan refer to "B. Gate" as "father".

Dispute between Futaba Society and Deja Vu

Deja Vu Art Works is a doujin group in Japan, which has published doujinshi of the OS-tan called "共有フォルＤＡ！"(Literal translation: Shared Fol-DA!). However, it has clashed with Futaba society on several points: