The government, electronics manufacturers and software makers launched a forum Friday to promote the development of a new operating system for next-generation networked appliances and other smart devices.
The forum is part of a trilateral initiative among the governments of Japan, China and South Korea to create, in cooperation with the private sector, an OS to rival Microsoft Corp.'s Windows.
The domestic forum is made up of 16 Japanese companies, including Hitachi Ltd., NTT Data Corp. and Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
A similar forum has already been set up in South Korea, with China to follow suit soon.
The goal of the forums is to develop a new system based on open source software (OSS), which is compatible with numerous platforms because its source code can be freely modified.
The establishment of the Japanese forum was announced at a meeting of electronics and software makers from the three countries in Osaka on Friday.
The organizations in the three countries will exchange information on the operating systems they develop and research projects each government conducts.
Officials from the three governments in charge of the project will meet in Beijing in early December to discuss the details of their collaboration.
News source: Asashi
