BTRON

Business TRON (BTRON), is a computer operating system with a graphical user interface (GUI) built upon Central TRON (CTRON), itself a subproject of The Real-time Operating system Nucleus (TRON). TRON was launched in Japan in 1984 as an initiative to create a single, universal operating system with an open architecture.

At one point, BTRON had a chance of becoming a popular desktop operating system in Japan. In 1989 the Japanese company Matsushita released an Intel-based PC, dubbed the PanaCAL ET, with the BTRON operating system. Though it only had an Intel 80286 processor with 2 MB of RAM, the system could render color video in a separate window. The Japanese government planned to introduce the Matsushita PC in its schools, but the United States government objected, claiming that the plan constituted market intervention and threatened Japan with sanctions (partly at the request of Microsoft).

BTRON was unable to gain a position in the desktop OS market, however other TRON operating systems continue to be extensively used in small devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, and CD players. The Desktop PC operating system market is dominated by Microsoft's Windows operating system.

External sources

• Linux Insider, "The Most Popular Operating System in the World", October 15, 2003. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
• BTRON Introduction