Object 94: "Back OS™"

Offsets

Offset 0

Name: Back OS™

Offset 1

Name: ERROR ØØØ

Offset 2

Name: The CRN Archives

Offset 3

Name: Operation Yellow Wire: "Matrix"

Offset 4

Name: Operation Yellow Wire: "Holy Code"

Offset 5

Name: Operation Yellow Wire: "The Smiling Virus"

Offset 6

Name: The "Liminal Echo" Theory

Offset 7

Name: Lost Media

Offset 8

Name: Aeternus Repositio

Offset 9

Name: Where Everything Originates From

"Frozen in time, a vestige of a bygone era, yet still anchored in our minds."

- Brad Silverberg, Microsoft Windows 95 project leader, 2019.

Object 94: Back OS™

Indexed Object Recommendation (IOR): 5/5

Location: Computers and Connected Devices native to the Backrooms

Value: High

Class: Beneficial

Rarity: Common

Type: Tool

↓Object 93

↑Object 95

Info

This article was written by Charles Delameuh, author of the origins canon. I put my hearth into it, it was a lot of fun writing this. 😁 (though, 75% of the efforts went to the pages CSS…)

Back OS aims to explore the lore behind the computers and IT within the Backrooms. It also attempts to explain how the Backrooms inspires from humans which has led this dimension to integrate digital technologies within its own ecosystem.

The article contains 8 offsets (the ERROR offset doesn't count) that extend the story behind the origin of Back OS and the Backrooms. They are short but should contain everything you need to know about the story.

Find my other works here

CLARIFICATION/SPOILER ALERT:

Compromising official BackNET Explorer™ pages (identified with a yellow mark), the Source Code or the Wi-Fi is impossible, even by The Happy File Virus and The Partygoers.

The Level 772 mentioned is a "general canon" version of it (if you read the origins canon). This version doesn't feature any godlike beings but the Backrooms themselves.

CREDITS:

GREENLIGHT: Praetor3005 (10/10 work and helped improve the article significantly; I also apologize for making you "scan" 9 articles in one 🥀)
CRITS: Voshimynuel
LORE CLARIFICATION: Greggita Mahayfaio, InspectingCritters, XRaggiX

Liminal Echo by Robert Goerman

Nostalgia OS theme by zaskou / scutoid studios; adapted for Back OS™.

The theme used for the CRN Archives is a modified version of the Liberation OS theme with components from the Turbo Vision theme by JakdragonX and Croquembouche from the SCP WIKI

The Eternal Repository theme by NavyEOD_24.

M.E.G. Database Omega theme by Charles Delameuh; which is a variant of the M.E.G. Edgy Theme by Kai4C.

Y2K theme by Ambersight and centurys lute; modified.

New Eternal Repository theme by exotichive; modified.

Gallery:

Before we begin, let me introduce myself. My name is "Mickael", but, please, call me Mike. I am the IT systems engineer of the Ariane Circle, graduated from MIT (with honors) and here I am today, March 23, 2022, writing about the famous "Object 94" and all the mysteries that surround it. You're probably wondering why we only decided to publish an article about something we discovered over 50 years ago just now… To tell the truth, we wanted to at least get some straight answers, rather than publish an article full of false information. So, I thank you all for your patience.

Below you'll find everything you need to know about "Object 94" and, if you have any questions about the article, I suggest you email my superior at ten.elcric-enaira|egnahcra.j#ten.elcric-enaira|egnahcra.j because I barely ever check my emails.

Description and Characteristics

The Back OS™ logo. It's identical to that of Windows 95, except that only the yellow color is used. Maybe it's the work of one of us? Or, maybe some kind of entity? Or could it be the OS itself? Who knows…

Object 94, commonly referred to as Back OS™, is an operating system famous for being the only functional OS on the BackNET¹, as other operating systems such as Windows or Linux cannot work with the Wi-Fi².

If you're wondering, Back OS™ is obviously a made-up name. In reality, no one knows its real one, as the OS is only represented by its logo. Given that no apparent “official” name could be found for Object 94, The Leaders³ published a survey on the BackNET in 1990, where "Back OS™" was featured among the multiple choices. This generic yet strangely memorable name gained massive popularity and ended up winning the poll with 78% of the vote, and from that day on, everyone refers to Object 94 as “Back OS™”.

Back OS™ is installed by default on all Backrooms-native computers and connected devices, with no possibility of replacing it or modifying its source code. It is however possible to install it on "Frontrooms devices" by various means, but this action is irreversible as it will permanently replace your current operating system.

Back OS Mobile™

Back OS™ can also run on mobile and smaller devices such as tablets, with what looks like an adapted version. The features it offers and the way it works remain broadly the same; only the interface is somewhat different to suit a smaller screen.

A Mobile Phone Booting Back OS™.

How to Install Back OS™

Step 1: Get the source files

If you want to install Back OS™ on your "Frontrooms device", you'll need a USB flash drive or a hard disk drive containing Back OS™⁴. These objects can be found in office spaces such as Level 4 and office buildings in Level 11, or inside tech stores and tech aisles of supermarkets. You can also find these objects in technological levels like Level 102, Level 502, Level 0.1 or Level 400⁵. Otherwise, these items can be traded with the B.N.T.G. or The Backrooms Robotics, but the prices are far too high for what it is.

Object-94-A: A Flash Drive containing Back OS™.

Object-94-B: A HDD containing Back OS™.

Step 2: Proceed with the installation

The OS recognizes device types and automatically selects the appropriate version in case of an installation:

For computers, plug a USB Flash Drive or insert an HDD containing Back OS™. Next, press F12 at boot time and select “Boot by USB” or "Boot by Disk" - Back OS™ will then install itself.

For smartphones, you'll have to find a variant of Object 94-A with a USB-A or USB-C connector. Plug it and an installation agent will open, asking if you want to install Back OS™ on your phone. Confirm and the OS will install itself.

Other Devices

We recently discovered that Back OS™ affects many more device types than we originally thought.

Indeed, one of our experiments was to determine whether the operating system would work on a connected refrigerator, and to our surprise, it actually did! But it doesn't add anything special, I'd even say it's a waste of time to install Back OS™ on it… I mean, no offense, but who writes their emails on a refrigerator anyways?⁶

Back OS™ Account

Once you boot up a Back OS™ powered device, you will be prompted to log in with a USERNAME and a PASSWORD. If this is the first time you're logging in, you'll have to create an account⁷. Once the account has been created, you can use it to connect to another Back OS™ powered device, restoring your session and everything you did on the previous device. This allows you to access your files anywhere in the Backrooms, and to not worry about your device being destroyed or broken. Upon closer inspection, it has been revealed that the OS features a cloud service named The BackRoom™ that automatically saves what you're doing on your account.

Features and Default Applications

Back OS™ appears to be a mix of Windows 95 and Windows XP (the two most popular operating systems of their respective eras) in their features and their rather simplistic interface.

As a result, Back OS™ offers most of the applications and features that were available on those operating systems.⁸

Just like “Back OS™”, the default applications only have their logo to identify them, meaning that the names of the following applications have been chosen using the same naming process mentioned earlier. This is mainly intended to establish a universal slang and simplify communication. On a side note, the operating system allows you to rename applications on the desktop to whatever you like, meaning the names below are simply the most common ones.

BackNET Explorer™ is a search engine that requires a connection to the BackNET to work⁹. It's often abbreviated to “BackNET”, the two being quite similar if you think about it.

BackNET Explorer™ can mainly be used to access and get information from the General Public Database, in case you are lost and want to know about a specific level, object, or entity.

Another popular use is to ask various questions, as the search engine results are surprisingly reliable and accurate. However, there are some exceptions; for example, if you ask "how to exit the Backrooms", the search engine will display only one link. Here is the link in question:

Wikihow: How to exit the Backrooms in 7 steps.¹⁰

Websites are hosted on remote servers which locations remain a mystery to this day. HTTPS is used as a protocol to encrypts data passing between websites, and therefore, user data passing through the BackNET. Finally, to add another layer of security, only the creator of the website and designated persons can modify the website.

Since users can publish their own websites, there are of course "official" websites published by the search engine itself, such as the infamous "Wikihow: How to exit the Backrooms in 7 steps." The official websites are identified by the Back OS™ logo next to the link, which cannot be replicated if the website is posted by a user.

The number of websites you can access is likely to be infinite. Some of them are identical to those found in the Frontrooms, but most of them are unique to the Backrooms.

Here are the top searched pages of all time:

TOP 10 Most Searched Websites

1. The General Public Database [https://bnet.gpd-wiki.net]
- 15 094 316 total searches

"The knowledge of everyone, for everyone."
Until 1986, groups used to keep the levels, entities, objects, and phenomena documentation on physical archives. As soon as they learned how to code in SGML, however, they began migrating most of the physical archives to a single online collaborative database, which anyone can access. In 2006, the G.P.D. underwent major restructuring with the replacement of SGML with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and now offers more features such as custom themes for the pages, built-in forums, and rating systems to keep the articles with updated information. As of today, it is by far the most searched website due to it being considered as an essential survival tool.

2. Backrooms News Network [https://bnet.bnn.net]
- 8 799 562 total searches.

More commonly known as "BNN", it is a news website that was created by a group of programmers from The Leaders in 1987, officially making it the second user-generated website after the G.P.D. Following the creation of the BNN, the Daily Rooms¹¹ volunteered to take over the management of the website and become the daily source of BNN content¹². Their most popular column is “The Daily Rooms”, which is basically the digital format of their newspaper of the same name, covering the most important news and events happening in the Backrooms, on a daily basis. Their second most popular section is “Daily Dose of Backrooms”, which has a more humorous tone and is particularly popular with the younger generation. Their column "The Backrooms Report", which sums up the most important news and events of the month, is also worth mentioning.

3. BackDoor [https://bnet.backdoor.com]
- 5 799 562 total searches.

BackDoor™ is the first and most popular online chat service of the Backrooms. It is a web-client chatting application made by an independent programmer who used to work at Microsoft before he no-clipped in the Backrooms, around 1999. As a result, the interface and the features of BackDoor™ are heavily inspired by Microsoft's "MSN Messenger" and America Online's "AOL" chat rooms. Even today, with the introduction of more recent chatting applications like Discord; BackDoor™ is still massively used by all the generations of wanderers. The journalists from the BNN have recently conducted a public interview about BackDoor™, asking wanderers why they still use it - to which all interviewees responded "nostalgia".

4. Wikihow: How to exit the Backrooms in 7 steps.
- 4 845 221 total searches.

A click-baiting website published by the search engine itself, that claimed millions of victims already…

5. The Ariane Database [https://bnet.ariane-database.org]
- 3 914 289 total searches.

Our public archive is the most reliable source of detailed, scientific documentation on levels, entities, objects, and phenomena. We ensure that thorough research is carried out and that all sources are verified before an article is published. Less content is being published compared to the M.E.G. but 95% of it is accessible to the public, as only information likely to cause direct or indirect harm¹³ is classified. Transparency is our priority as a "public service".

6. The M.E.G. Record-Keeping Institute [https://bnet.meg-institute.org]
- 3 724 631 total searches.

The official public archive of the M.E.G. is another reliable source of detailed, professional documentation on levels, entities, objects, and phenomena. The M.E.G. Record-Keeping Institute is particularly popular due to the large amount of public content. However, since the 2021 scandal, it's been discovered that they hide more than they pretend…

7. 4chan [https://bnet.4chan.org]
- 271 556 total searches.

4Chan is mostly used by wanderers who have no-clipped between the years 2000 to 2015. This is obviously a different version than the one you can find in the real world, which means you cannot communicate with users of the real version. Surprisingly, 4chan is the most popular social network in the Backrooms.

8. M.E.G.'s Royal Rations Giveaway =) [Link removed for safety measures]
- 227 762 total searches.

We've kept this one on the list as a warning. Under no circumstances should you attempt to access this website… You were warned.

9. Reddit [https://bnet.reddit.com]
- 197 108 total searches.

Reddit is the second most popular social network in the Backrooms, and is massively used by Generation Z wanderers. Reddit has been available since 2005, after the search engine published it on the BackNET, and requires you to link your Back OS account™ in order to create a Reddit account.
Much like 4Chan, this version of Reddit bears no relation to its real-life counterpart of the Frontrooms.

10. Discord [https://bnet.discord.com]
- 104 667 total searches.

Available since May 13, 2015 after the search engine published it on the BackNET, Discord quickly gained popularity within the Backrooms due to its panel of features and user-friendly interface. Similarly to Reddit, you need to link your Back OS account™ to create a Discord account, and it's impossible to communicate with users from the real world.¹⁴

Back OS™ Source Code

If you press F10 in the 2-second window after booting your computer, you won't access the BIOS as you normally would, but directly to a window containing what we assume to be the source code. Below is an extract of the never-ending source code. (You may need to refresh the page a few times to display it correctly.)

version 4.0.011

An amalgam of known and unknown characters flowing in a deep ocean of yellow, existing between the frontier of the second and third dimension. This may look extravagant but this is the best description I could provide to this… thing. Strings of characters are scrolling indefinitely from top to bottom, with the overall structure of the code being reminiscent of the "rain code" from “Matrix” (if you watched the movies) as if the code was organic, representing the blood circulating in the system. Finally, the most intriguing characteristic of this code so far is the apparent multiple layers of code extending in the Z-Axis, suggesting the theory of the code being three-dimensional.

In a nutshell, for us humans, it's just a messy, incomprehensible "digital stew". It's been 50 years since Back OS™ was discovered and no one has even figured out any pattern or comprehensible sequence, as if the code can renew itself without impacting its ecosystem. Even the biggest brains in the Backrooms such as myself (obviously), the engineers at the Backrooms Robotics, the hackers at the Eternal Repository, and the top scientists at the M.E.G. and the I.M.B.H. couldn't understand a thing! So, all this is to say that reverse engineering the OS is considered an impossible task, which limits us with the default settings and features. The only freedom we have is the development of new applications through BackCode Studio™.

It was also observed that Back OS™ never received any major updates since its discovery in the mid-1960s (at the same time when computers began to appear in Level 4). Over the years, only small additions could sometimes be noticed such as the introduction of the HTML, Javascript, CSS, C++, and Python programming languages in BackCode Studio™ between the years 1990 and 1996. When it happens, the last digits of the version number increase by one.²⁰ As a result, the vintage look of the Back OS™ interface never changed and no additional applications or major features were added ever since its discovery.

Network and Cybersecurity

Offline Mode

Back OS™ can still work without Wi-Fi in case you don't have access to it. However, most of the features and services including The BackRoom™, BackNET Explorer™, etc. won't work. You can also disconnect and connect to the Wi-Fi at will, which is actually useful in some situations…

Main network and subnet

As mentioned in the BackCode Studio™ section, the BackNET seems to divided into two distinct networks. The main one that uses unknown protocols (used by every default features and applications) and the subnet (only used by user-made websites on the BackNET) that uses IPv4.

But since the year 2004, it has been revealed that the second network is vulnerable to cyber attacks. However, these attacks are limited to the IPv4 network, and do not extend to the main network.

Most Wanted Hacker

This is HorNET, probably the most skilled hacker of the Backrooms as of today. HorNET made its first appearance in 2019 when they broke into one of the M.E.G.'s classified databases, leaving behind its signature hornet logo. We therefore urged everyone to increase security measures for their online databases to this day. As of HorNET, they were placed on the M.E.G. most wanted list, and investigations are still ongoing to identify their true identity.

Most Famous Malware

That scary face is the infamous "Happy Files Virus.exe”. We decided to include it in the article as a warning. After all, you need to be careful when surfing the BackNET, really, it's a hostile environment full of malicious people and “things”.

Operation Yellow Wire

Link to the CRN archives: https://bnet.crn.net

The "Liminal Echo" Theory

Link to the Ariane Circle's official public archive: https://bnet.ariane-database.net

Easter Eggs

The "Hall of Tortured Souls"

This is a well-known Easter egg of Back OS™. "Hall of Tortured Souls" is the easter egg that started the rumor that the creator of Back OS™ was not one of us, but possibly the Backrooms themselves.

To access it:
1. Open a new blank Sheet™ worksheet.
2. Go down to the 95th row and select the whole row.
3. Tab over to the column B.
4. Go to Help/About.
5. Tap and hold CTRL + ALT + SHIFT, then click the tech support button.

Then the "game" will appear.

You'll find yourself in a room with a staircase in front of you. On the walls, incomprehensible symbols scroll sideways. Once you've climbed the staircase, you'll find yourself facing a small bridge suspended over the void. If you fall into the void, a YSOD²¹ will force your device to reboot. However, if you reach the end of the bridge, a message will appear on the wall standing in front of you:

Attachment Failed to Load : Reload Attachment

Footnotes

15. I previously mentioned that the Wi-Fi uses unknown protocols, and that's true. But after further research, we found out that IPv4 addresses are only and specifically used by the BackNET websites created by users, since we can't look at the network details of the official websites. These user-made websites seem to communicate on a different network, possibly a VLAN or a subnet. We believe that the main network is the one that uses unknown protocols, while the second is the one that uses IPv4. If we follow the logic, those two should be able to communicate between each other, but so far, we still haven't found a way to interact with the main network using the subnet.