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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.)

22 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. Tron? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I don't give a damn about operating systems, but those cybercycles were 1337.

  2. First Post by UltimateZer0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tron is an OS? I thought Tron was a simple program, written only to destroy the MCP.

    --

    --- I'm going to get a score of -1 for this post because the mods are fuckers.

    1. Re:First Post by TCaptain · · Score: 4, Funny
      No, actually, Tron was written to shut down programs that perform illegal operations.

      So it IS supposed to be a Microsoft killer then...

      --
      "I'm not a procrastinator, I'm temporally challenged"
    2. Re:First Post by Cecil · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would like to order some 1024MB PC3200 DDR. Where do I send my $20? :P

  3. Re:TRON is an "embedded" operating system... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Micro$oft Windows doesn't control electronic devices ranging from mobile phones to fax machines and even kitchen appliances, as far as I know, right??? (I hope it doesn't anyways)

    How can you compare the two?


    Hi, you must be new to Slashdot.

  4. Movie by GeckoFood · · Score: 4, Funny

    In the movie TRON, TRON was a program designed to crack security and free the computer from an overpowering OS that became self-aware and was plotting to take over everything. In the end TRON was victorious.

    It's not hard to draw obvious parallels...

    Hearing that M$ went out of the way to block TRON from being used on this side of the pond brought back found memories of said movie. Give that program one of those cool disks from the movie and see what happens...

    --
    Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
  5. TRON? by KillerHamster · · Score: 1, Funny

    So, where's the TROFF operating system?

  6. Re:Home page by jkrise · · Score: 1, Funny

    Besides, what devices run than OS ? anyone know ?

    More important, does it contain SCOde? If it doesn't, well that's great news. We can make it run on any device.
    -

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  7. PR0N by GillBates0 · · Score: 5, Funny
    When it was first revealed in 1984, TRON, which can be modified for use on personal computers, was hailed in Japan as a homemade software which could break the dominance of Microsoft and free Japanese computer firms from the burden of paying for the basic software.

    First revealed in 1984, PR0N, which can be modified for use on personal computers, was hailed in Japan as a homemade software which could break the dominance of Playboy and Hustler and free Japanese masturbators from the burden of paying for the basic software.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  8. The Best Thing About Tron... by pazu13 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that instead of just deleting old programs, you can throw frisbees at them and they'll disappear. For once, you'll be able to have as much fun deleting files as Strong Bad[homestarrunner.com].

    --
    It wasn't me, it was the one-armed .sig!
  9. Which is more deployed? by yerricde · · Score: 2, Funny

    If TRON is more deployed than *BSD, then TRON has less of a chance of dying.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  10. if TRON is anything like Japanese cars.. by Trigun · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can get a 14 foot spoiler and Type R stickers for my operating system!

  11. Re:bad economics.... bad forbes! by TopShelf · · Score: 2, Funny

    At a penny a user, he'd only have to sell 4.3 trillion licenses, what's so odd about that? And of course, he'd get it all tax-free, so he could just stuff it under his matress and amass this collossal fortune...

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
  12. Re:bad economics.... bad forbes! by jandrese · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, he'd have to have a really big matress to fit 4.3 trillion pennies under it. I hope he doesn't live on the top floor of some apartment building.

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    I read the internet for the articles.
  13. well it sounds pretty cool.... by pulse2600 · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...but I'll only use it if it sucks me into the computer, puts me in a blue suit, and lets me hurl those lightning disc thingies at the MCP...

  14. Note to self- by EzekielQ · · Score: 4, Funny

    TROFF. -)

  15. Re:1989? Microsoft?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "In 1989 Microsoft Windows barely worked and the machines of the day barely had the processing power"

    Don't u mean "In 2003...."?

  16. GNU/TRON? by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think RMS would be happy... we could all do the GNU/TRON dance.

    Maybe someone should forward this story to Darl, get him time to get his lawsuit ready.

  17. Re:bad economics.... bad forbes! by Binestar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, he'd have to have a really big matress to fit 4.3 trillion pennies under it. I hope he doesn't live on the top floor of some apartment building.

    That's not an apartment building, it's his stack of pennies.

    --
    Do you Gentoo!?
  18. Re:bad economics.... bad forbes! by MagikSlinger · · Score: 2, Funny
    Wow, he'd have to have a really big matress to fit 4.3 trillion pennies under it. I hope he doesn't live on the top floor of some apartment building.

    That's a futon, you insensitive clod!

    --
    The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
  19. Re:Windows CE, oddly enough by cyclist1200 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of course it's scary. Why do you think it's abbreviated as WinCE?

  20. Re:gentle dig at the American religion of capitali by dpilot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hurrah!

    Let's hear it for the hardline moderates.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.