TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said on Wednesday they would jointly develop software using the freely available Linux operating system to run home electronics such as hard-disk video recorders.

The world's two largest consumer electronics makers hope to make Linux, now used mainly in high-powered computer servers where it competes with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows, more adept at handling video and other consumer-oriented functions.

"We don't know yet what products will emerge from this, but we aim to develop source code by next spring," a Sony spokesman said.

"If we want to put that into hardware, we'd be able to do so rather quickly."

The companies are also looking at setting up an industrial forum to promote the software, which they said had drawn interest from electronics makers such as Hitachi Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., NEC Electronics Corp., Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. and Sharp Corp.

IBM and other computer companies have already embraced the Linux operating system, arguing it offers better security, flexibility and innovation because its underlying code, or blueprint, for programs is open to evaluation and scrutiny.

Proprietary systems like Windows are not made freely available for use and modification.

A Matsushita Electric spokesman said the joint project, currently scheduled to last until next March, could be extended.

POST-PC

Sony already uses Linux-based software in its Cocoon Internet-connected hard-disk video recorder, which can check online TV program information to seek out and record content that matches its owner's tastes.

The machine, which selects programs for recording by analyzing past choices and consulting a series of criteria entered by the user, was launched in Japan last month.

Sony President Kunitake Ando said in an interview last week his company hoped to roll out the machine overseas next year.

The Sony spokesman played down suggestions the Linux-based software would compete with Windows CE, a slimmed-down version of Microsoft's famous operating system that was developed for mobile or non-PC devices like cell phones, handheld computers and automotive electronics.

He added that Windows CE is used in some Sony projectors and may be preferred for consumer products that work with Windows-based computers.

Some executives at Sony and other Japanese electronics companies have been heralding the advent of a "post-PC era" that will see TVs, video game consoles, mobile phones and other devices bypassing the PC to hook up directly to the Internet.

They hope this will bring them new business opportunities, after they were shut out of much of the bonanza from the last decade's PC boom that enriched Microsoft and Intel Corp, the dominant manufacturer of PC microprocessors.

A Sony spokesman said jointly developed source code would be made available free to the public for use and modification, in line with the license program that governs the use of Linux.

The announcement came after the end of Tokyo share trade. Sony ended 1.38 percent lower at 5,000 yen while Matsushita dipped 2.49 percent to 1,138 yen, in line with a 1.96 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average.