"Japan, China and South Korea have agreed to cooperate in a project to boost research and development of software for operating systems other than industry leader Microsoft's Windows, a Japanese trade ministry official said Friday. The project, proposed by Japan's Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma at a conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Wednesday, is intended to bolster the popularity of Windows' rivals, such as Linux, and boost their share in such markets as digital cameras, mobile phones and car navigation systems," reports AP.
Comment: although this is most likely to benefit Linux, it will be interesting to see whether the project is also used to promote TRON (The Real-time Operating system Nucleus), which was launched by Professor Ken Sakamura in 1984. TRON -- available in numerous versions -- was part of the Japanese plan to take over the world, crushing American microprocessor manufacturers and software developers along the way. (As The Japan Lawletter noted at the time, foreigners were not welcome to join in.)
This year, Japanese sources reckon that TRON is used in about half Japan's digital appliance products, such as phones, which would mean it already ships far more copies than Windows. According to Trends in Japan: "in terms of machine numbers, TRON is the most widely used OS in the world."
