Fujitsu Ltd has mobilised nine other hardware and software firms to agree a common specification for the Nihongo OS/2 Japanese language version of the Microsoft Corp operating system for 32-bit computers in a move widely seen as an attempt to counteract the strength of NEC Corp in the Japanese personal computer market: the agreement will be a step forward for the computer manufacturers that until now have had differing formats for graphics display, kana-to-kanji conversion and other essential software; Hitachi Ltd, Toshiba Corp, Oki Electric Industrial Co, MicroSoft Corp itself, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, NTT Data Communications Inc, Sanyo Electric Corp, Mitsubishi Electric Corp and Sharp Corp will join Fujitsu in establishing a joint office, the Nihongo OS/2 Common Rule Workshop, to complete and implement the standard.
