It was my husband who told me about TRON.
"TRON, which was developed in a project by University of Tokyo Prof. Sakamura 14 years ago, is the first domestically produced high-performance OS."
My husband is a faculty of science and engineering graduate who runs a consulting firm. Personal computers are necessities in his work. He often talks about personal computers to me, a writer and planning director, also.
"Because it's high performance, it was raised as a candidate on America's list of trade barriers and wasn't able to see the light of day."
"Speaking of 14 years ago, isn't that the year that kid was born?"
My son who is in the second year of middle school, was born in 1984, the year TRON was developed. I first realized that fact at this time.
From that point onward, the words "TRON, middle school student, 1984" were input into my head like key words.
Lately, incidents caused by middle school students have been occurring in many places. They have killed and wounded teachers and friends with knives, and they have committed robberies for want of money to entertain themselves.
"Why do boys engage in violent activities?"
"Now let's stop carrying knives around."
I raised my son not to rebel against his parents or teachers and to be obedient. But as a mother with a child in the same generation, I haven't been able to consider their incidents someone else's business.
In the midst of all that, the key words "TRON, middle school student, 1984" came back to me.
Isn't it the same as bullying that TRON was raised on the list of trade barriers and wasn't able to see the light of day? I have the point of view of a mother, and I personified TRON within myself.
Middle school students really like computer games and personal computers. What would they think if they knew the fact that among those computers there was a computer like TRON that got caught up in bullying?
You aren't the only ones who are bitter. Even TRON, which is the same age as you, got bullied!
To me, the incidents of middle school students born in 1984 must not cause us to feel grief that the future seems without direction, I thought. And at the same time I was also able to hear the grief of TRON.
In the newspaper, I read an article titled "TRON on the Front Stage Again." I learned that JTRON was born through the merger of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java and ITRON, and that various authors are criticizing "character code" limitations and carrying out activities to preserve culture. I felt I wanted to help TRON, so my husband and I promptly became members of the BTRON Club.
People all possess their respective good points. Middle school students are the ones who will be in charge of the next generation. By backing TRON, which was born in 1984, I want to support from a mother's point of view middle school students bearing forth the future of Japan.
The above reader's contribution appeared on page 96 in Vol. 51 of TRONWARE . It was translated and loaded onto this web page with the permission of Personal Media Corporation.
Copyright © 1998 Personal Media Corporation
Copyright © 1998 Sakamura Laboratory, University Museum, University of Tokyo