Hitachi Ltd is right out on a limb in a country that regards conformity as an essential virtue in that it is the only major Japanese computer company that backs the Open Software Foundation against Unix International. It is however on relatively safe ground in its latest initiative, that of offering its version of OSF/Motif as a consistent user interface across its product line, because most companies, regardless of their affiliations in the Unix Wars, have settled on Motif as the best graphical user interface for the operating system. The company has begun marketing Hitachi Motif as a consistent Japanese-language graphical user interface across its entire range, from S series supercomputers through M-series mainframes and E-series minicomputers to 2050G/32E workstations. The Hitachi version incorporates Japanese language menus and messages, and costs equivalent of $516 per month on the supercomputer and mainframe ranges, $1,032 to $2,580 on the E-series and $193 on the stations.
