In Man OS 1 / extraordinateur the internal work processes of a computer are presented in real human form. The Processor is a person who carries out the commands of a user on a monitor. On a stage, whose backdrop is the surface of a screen, the person executes programs, manages the operating system and interacts with a mouse pointer. Added digitally during postproduction, the pointer symbolizes the user who remains invisible throughout the film.

Digital processes and human behavior are propelled together and find a common denominator in their fallibility.

After the computer has been started, an e-mail arrives from Hans Holbein the Younger. He invites the computer user to smarten up the figures in the painting entitled The Ambassadors, which has arrived with the e-mail, for their Internet appearance. For instance, using Photoshop, one of the two figure’s beards is shaven off. Along with the e-mail, a virus has infiltrated the system in the form of a “bug”, which in the course of events repeatedly sabotages the work processes which seemed to be running smoothly. The character Norton Disk Doctor examines the Processor and finally finds the virus.

On the Internet the Processor encounters the characters H, T, M and L, who are responsible for the configuration of the page. Together they visit a ping-pong page, a film page and a few erotic pages. In an Internet shop the processor buys some new accessories, which are then added to into Holbein’s painting. In between, the user listens to music using Soundjam. During a game of PacMan, the Processor is knocked down by ghosts. While burning the new version of Holbein’s painting on a CD, the “Toaster” catches fire and SETI (“Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence”) reveals that the figures in the painting are extraterrestrial. This is all too much for the Processor and the entire system crashes.

On an enormous monitor, a rear projection of the video is shown.