TRON Enters Alliance With Microsoft

David writes "As widely reported on OSNews.com, Forbes, IDG, CNet, AustralianIT, and Ashi Shimbun - Microsoft Corp. has entered into an alliance with the T-engine Forum, the consortium behind the free software TRON operating system. As TRON runs billions of devices worldwide, this will help Microsoft's goal of cementing WinCE / .NET in places as diverse as your toaster and cell phone, perhaps in a setup similar to how X-Windows is in relation to the Linux kernel." (Continued below.)

David continues: "This arrangement is ironic, as Microsoft is part of the reason why the U.S. in the 1980s prevented Japan from putting TRON into schools on the desktop by account of trade rules, which would've meant Linux may've never gone beyond being a footnote in the comp.os.minix archives. No doubt Microsoft is aiming to keep Linux out of the embedded space, and may in the long-term foster an environment where using anything other than industry-licenced OS software on the desktop becomes unviable for everyday tasks because all the infratructurial systems we take for granted today like radio, television, phones, IM, require Palladium-style walled gardens."

Comments

Re:Sorry...

[Qzukk]

because asking for help with their toaster nets them a "RTFM," leading them to a 400 page manual that explains everything but they kitchen sink when they just want to have a piece of toast.

It also explains that when using a wall-mounted toaster that they have to cut it into 40 pieces and throw it sideways. And when they want to toast a poptart, that it must be affixed to a long pole and hoisted up there. And that bagels need to be tied to a rock to make sure they come back down.

And having Read TFM, they should KNOW this, and NOT have to ask us every time some little thing changes! I've seen people ask on IRC how to extract a tarball, and someone invariably just gives them the command. And they come back to ask how to create a tarball. "What if its .bz2?" they say. "What is a .tgz?" If they had Read TFM the first time, they would have learned how to use tar and saved their time and ours in the long run.

But no, they're too lazy or too "smart" to be bothered to read the instructions. Do these people go through life thinking directions are too good for them? Do they sue the playset manufacturer because they were smarter than the instructions and as a result the swingset fell on their kid?