What’s so special about TRON?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRON_project

The Industrial TRON (ITRON) derivative of TRON was one of the world’s most used operating systems in 2003,[2] being present in billions of electronic devices such as mobile phones, appliances and even cars.[3]

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/31855.html

What is the world’s most widely used operating system? It’s not Windows, Unix or Linux, but ITRON, a Japanese real-time kernel for small-scale embedded systems.

Why was TRON not used for PCs?

The TRON Project is not new; in fact, it was poised to its mark more than a decade ago, in Japan’s PC industry, but the U.S. government intervened. In 1989, Japanese electronics giant Matsushita introduced a BTRON PC, a machine that stunned the industry with its advanced capabilities. The BTRON PC had an 80286 Intel chip running at 8 MHz and a mere 2 MB of memory, but it could display moving video in color in a separate window. Also, it had a dual-booting system that could run both the BTRON OS and MS-DOS.

When the Japanese government announced it would install BTRON PC in Japanese schools, the U.S. government objected. It called the Japanese initiative “actual and potential market intervention” and threatened the move with sanctions. The Japanese, dependent on the U.S. export market, quickly dropped the plan. The U.S. government later withdrew its threat, but the damage had already been done. Nearly all Japanese companies involved in TRON-related activities had canceled their projects.

Nevertheless, ITRON survived.

What exactly happened?

http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/msvshistfact.html

One of the news articles that is seared into my memory is an article that appeared in the November 28, 1988, issue of Business Week [2]. The authors of the article make it abundantly clear that it was Microsoft that was the first firm to run to the U.S. government to demand that the TRON Project be attacked and derailed, and Microsoft’s director of Far East Operations at the time, Mr. Ron Hosogi, is quoted in that article as saying that if anyone tries to mandate the use of TRON, Microsoft is going to make a political issue out of it. The historical record is very clear; Microsoft tried to use the U.S. government to kill off TRON because it wanted a monopoly in operating systems.

“Our earlier concern was that there were government people backing a nationalistic approach,” says Ron Hosogi, Microsoft’s director of Far East Operations. He adds that “it still could be a political issue if we find out that a government body or a quasi-government body mandates TRON”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRON_project#History

In 2004, the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara mentioned “TRON was once killed by the former Minister of International Trade and Industry, Hashimoto, because he was at that time under the pressure of United States.”[11] This story is supported by an article on a website dedicated to the TRON Project,[12] citing Microsoft’s lobbying against it. The result was the threat of a Super-301 (complete stop of import based on section 301 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988) against everything related to TRON. This led to many companies dropping TRON in fear to lose the possibility to export to the United States.[13]

Asians are creative.

Asians are innovative.

Other people don’t want Asians to be creative.

Other people don’t want Asians to be innovative.

Other people use Asians against Asians.