Slashdot Mirror
TRON: The Unknown Open-Source?
jordandeamattson writes "Over on CNN there is a very interesting article about Tron, an open-source real-time operating system from Japan first developed and distributed in the early 1980s. The claim is that it is more widely distributed than Windows (in some 3 billion devices world-wide), that the developer (Ken Sakamura, a University professor) would be worth mucho if he had just charged for it, and that Microsoft/U.S. goverment used trade rules (Super 301) to block it adoption by schools in Japan. Check it out for an interesting read and a 'what might have been ...'" (Here's a previous mention of Tron from March about MontaVista's work to combine it with Linux.)
Myopic is not looking past the first step of the capitalistic process. What happens is that labour overseas stops being quite so cheap as more and more labour is demanded. Eventually there is a natural equalization between the economy you are "abusing" and your own. No, it is not 100% good for your own economy to export jobs, but at the same time, it is not catestrophic either. Also, this HIGHLY conservative behavior has the most liberal effect of bringing poorer nations more in line with western standards of living (while bringing down the west somewhat). That is the true VALUE of capitalism - if left alone, it will always self-equalize.