[ WP ] You are Linux , and you 've been best friends with your roommate Windows 7 for many years . You wake up one morning and find your roommate has been replaced by Windows 8.1 .

“ Sudo fucking -- ” I bashed on the door handle a few times uselessly before scrambling through my backpack to find my keys. You would have thought after so many years I would have taken Windows' advice not being so paranoid to check each of our room locks after we went out, but that was a conversation for when I was inside pleasantly sleeping in my room and not outside after a long day, trying to get in. 
 
 With a yank and a push I stumbled into our room... and backtracked to double-check the door number. While my side of the room remained untouched, reasonable, and pleasant, the other half of the room had been blasted by into an unrecognizable world of color: everything to my left side was bright blue, orange, purple, and green. Windows' bedsheets had been replaced, her wardrobe re-painted, her desk chair simply gone. Her typically messy desktop had been painted bright blue with plastic boxes in the very same range of colors, labelled clearly and cleanly with their contents. Her pictures normally tucked in her folders were now meticulously placed in a grid across her bright blue wall. 
 
 And finally I blinked and noticed. Her trash bin. In the first time in years she had taken out her trash. I took a deep breath. 
 
 “ Windows? ” I called and knocked the bathroom door. “ How are you feeling? Are you okay? ” 
 
 It took her a little bit to respond, but she was cheery as she opened the door and went back to the mirror to re-apply her mascara. “ I'm so sorry, did you need to pee? You can come in I'll be done in a minute! ” 
 
 “ Oh wow, you look... ” I could find no words to complete that sentence. In the same theme of a children's television show she was dressed in heels, tights, a skirt, shirt, and scarf each in a different solid bright color. She was even doing her eye makeup in blue and finished to look up at me, hand on her hip. 
 
 “ Do you like it? It's really great, it's made to be worn everywhere -- you can wear it going out during the day, or going out at night, or it's really comfy so you can go out and play games, or even stay in! I mean of course without the boots, but it's like, really breathable I could totally sleep in this! ” 
 
 I gritted my teeth. “ Um, okay. Would you wear it to work? ” 
 
 Her smile dropped. She paused as her lips jerked tersely. “ Why, did you wear *that* to work? ” 
 
 I looked down at my own attire: sneakers, orange pants, and a dull violet t-shirt. Though this was an incredible improvement to how I used to dress a few years ago, I was always far from being as fashion-forward as Windows tended to be. 
 
 “ Anyway, ” she pushed past me to search through her drawer and pick up her coat. “ I have a date with HTC. ” 
 
 My eyebrows raised at the thought. “ HTC? I thought HTC was dating Android -- ” 
 
 “ Android is a slut, ” Windows hissed. `` HTC deserves better.'' For that moment I caught her staring darkly at me. Her hair was the same, I realized then. Without the clothes and makeup she surely was still the same, albeit more mature, Windows 7. 
 
 I agreed to walk her outside to meet her date, as it was cold and she was still getting used to her heels ( and after numerous suggestions that she could walk fine without them, the last snap from her finally shut me up ). A crowd following a girl in silver passed us by on the sidewalk and we silently backed up to make room for them, shivering in our coats, watching the clouds escape from our mouths. 
 
 “ She used to be ugly, do you remember? ” said Windows. 
 
 I shook my head and rubbed at my nose. “ No, I do n't think Mac was ever ugly. ” 
 
 “ Well, she used to be... she used to be weird. All creative and artsy. You and I were always busy doing real work -- we did n't have time to draw pictures and think about how it made us feel. Except I was...'' She took a deep breath and rocked on her heels. `` I was awake at about 3 AM last night and I was thinking that maybe... maybe she was right all along. People do n't want to work all the time, people want to live and have fun and I c-can be fun, I've always been the best gamer, you know that. I can do media, I can do music, and videos, and -- ” 
 
 “ Yeah, remember Media Center? That was pretty cool. ” 
 
 “ That *was* pretty cool. ” Windows rubbed at her nose. “ I do n't... I do n't want to be stuffy and work all the time anymore. I want to be fun. I want people to... really love me again, you know? ” 
 
 To be honest, I did n't really know. Some people were very fond of me, but I never was as popular as Windows was. Or as Mac was now. I never really tried so hard to dress myself up though I enjoyed my occasional dates with Dell. He was all-too-fond of Windows, though. As mostly everyone was. 
 
 “ You know, Mac is n't like us. She does n't have a manufacturer. She just does it all herself, ” I echoed into the darkness. 
 
 Windows scoffed and mumbled something about how long that would last. At her request I found a mirror in my backpack and held it up for her as she re-adjusted her eye makeup. HTC drove up quite soon after and we bid our goodbyes. 
 
 In less than five minutes I was already back in the warmth of our room, huddled under my blankets, drifting quietly and peacefully off to sleep.
