Neko: History of a Software Pet (2022)

I think it is beautiful how this cat is like a story passed down by people. The code is different every time but the feeling is the same. It shows that software can belong to everyone instead of just one company. That is how things should really be built.

Can't miss this gem: https://webneko.net/

As a kid, I remember the Windows version from being included on the disk that came with the book, "Windows Magic Tricks," published by Sybex.

Years later, I was surprised to see the exact same cat on a "port" to the Sega Dreamcast VMU (a memory card that can function as a stand-alone device, with a 48x32 pixel screen,) where pressing a button would play one of the animations. It makes a little more sense now, finding out that the cat images were released into the public domain.

> Neko is a cat that runs around on the screen, chasing the mouse cursor.

> It has led many lives through the history of computers.

> Neko on PC-9801 The original software based on this concept was written in the 1980's by Naoshi Watanabe (若田部 直). It was called NEKO.COM and ran on the Japanese computer NEC PC-9801 in the MS-DOS command line.

Also worth mentioning that the Japanese word “neko” literally is their word for “cat”.

> The next version ran on the Macintosh computer as a "desktop accessory". It was called NekoDA

Article neglects to notice/mention the pun; It's simultaneously “Neko DA” as in desk accessory† and “nekoだ” as in ‘to be’‡, like “it's a cat” lol

† a specific type of application that could run alongside ‘real’ applications before the Mac had any multitasking: https://spinsidemacintosh.neocities.org/im202#im018

‡ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%A0#Verb

I remember it was one of the popular things to have on an OS/2 desktop which didn't have all that much software otherwise.

Related. Others?

Webneko – a desktop screenmate ported to web - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40843966 - July 2024 (7 comments)

Neko: A history of a software pet - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32037254 - July 2022 (6 comments)

I first ran xneko in 1990. Was my vibe that year in uni.

The cat also appears in a softsynth plugin Nekobi[1], because it was used as a static graphical element in the original one I wrote ages ago. Now it runs backwards and forwards above the knobs and occasionally bats at them.

[1] https://github.com/DISTRHO/Nekobi

We had the Meow Mix desktop pet. I’d love to get it back, this time in macOS.