LinuxInsider: The Most Popular Operating System in the World

“What is the world’s most widely used operating system? It’s not
Windows, Unix or Linux, but ITRON, a Japanese real-time kernel for
small-scale embedded systems. ITRON runs on mobile phones, digital
cameras, CD players and countless other electronic devices.

“ITRON emerged as an ambitious Japanese initiative known as The
Real-time Operating system Nucleus (TRON). Launched in 1984, TRON
was designed to replace disparate computer systems with a unified,
open architecture for a “total computer environment.”

“Its ultimate goal was to create “highly functionally
distributed systems” in which all system components are connected
to a real-time network. Professor Ken Sakamura, spiritual father of
TRON, conceived the project as a social infrastructure akin to the
electrical power grid or water supply system.

“Now, the T-Engine Forum, an offshoot of the TRON project with
more than 250 member companies, has been working to create a
standardized development environment for embedded applications
based on ITRON. Vendors of proprietary solutions are worried — or
at least should be…”

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