Re:China Rips Off The iPad With The iPed
by nonrecursive on Friday May 28, 2010 @08:34PM
(#1388094)
Nintendo's doing pretty well, and the DS and Wii can be considered innovative. I don't think their games aren't software in the way that you mean, but they've broken new ground there many times, too.
> Aside from Matz, has Japan even produced any really notable software or operating systems?
The NES, the MSX, The FM-Towns, Sega Master System, Megadrive, Dreamcast, the SNES, Mario, Contra, Starfox, Golden Axe, Thunderblade, Outrun, The PSP, The Playstation, PS2, PS3.
That's just in one industry (gaming). Of all of those the only ones that weren't significant out of Japan were the FM-Towns and MSX. The MSX was the biggest single threat to 8-bit computers in the early to mid 80s not because of it's power, but because it was a licenced standard (with OS software admittedly written by Microsoft, thank goodness they never got a hold on the OS market!)
Camera manufacture started as either junk, or as cheaper copies of German (Leica) bodies and lenses.
Car manufacture was in one case initially intertwined with licensed designs from the UK.
In both these cases, Japan grew to become the leader in cameras and amongst the leaders in automobiles.
The interesting thing is whether China can do the same thing with computers, but as software has such a cultural dependence, I highly doubt it. Aside from Matz, has Japan even produced any really notable software or operating systems?