> Longtime maintainer Micro Focus has cannily been promoting the language as a standard that can integrate with other Sigh, this is just Micro Focus astroturfi

> Longtime maintainer Micro Focus has cannily been promoting the language as a standard that can integrate with other Sigh, this is just Micro Focus astroturfing. Their secret is that they don't want COBOL to die, because they know they can't keep selling their stuff when it does. I worked on a COBOL project for a year. Dealing with the Micro Focus sales person sucked because it was clear they were sizing me up and trying to figure out how to get the most money. They ended up extracting $3000 from me for a slow compiler that ran on Solaris and was saddled with invasive "license management" crap. It wouldn't even install cleanly - I had to be in contact with their support people just to get it going. COBOL the language is also terrible. It was designed by a committee, and it shows. You can't really declare local variables! So I think Micro Focus is doing us all a disservice. If you have legacy COBOL software, just rewrite it already. I know this is painful, and some organizations think they can't. But that's just a mirage. Rip the band-aid off, because it will be cheaper and more maintainable in the long run if you do.