William Winter

The short story

I grew up in the golden age of keychain pets — the bleeps, the blinking pixels, the guilt of finding a tiny digital friend asking for breakfast at 3am. CritterOS is my love letter to that era, rebuilt for the device that actually lives in your pocket now.

It started as a weekend experiment: could a tiny operating system feel alive? One sprite turned into six growth stages, stats started decaying on a real clock, and suddenly the thing was sending me push notifications when I forgot to feed it. I was hooked. I figured other people might be too.

What I believe

• ▸Software should have a heartbeat, not just a homepage.
• ▸Small, chunky, joyful interfaces beat slick infinite scroll.
• ▸A creature you care for is a better notification than a number badge.
• ▸The web can still feel like a toy. We just have to make toys again.