IBM Mainframe COBOL - what compiler(s) are you using?

From: Colin Campbell (cmcampb_at_adelphia.net_remove_this)
Date: 12/19/03 

Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 10:11:31 -0800

My shop currently has only one COBOL compiler - IBM Enterprise COBOL.
Of course, we have thousands of load modules that are currently being
executed, and a substantial percentage of those were compiled with older
COBOL compilers - as old as IBM ANS COBOL V4. We have OS/VS COBOL from
multiple releases, VS COBOL II V1R3.2 and V1R4, COBOL for MVS & VM,
COBOL for OS/390 & VM V2.1 and V2.2, and a relatively paltry number of
Enterprise COBOL compiled programs, since it has only been installed for
6 months or so.

I know of other shops which still have (and use) OS/VS COBOL, VS COBOL
II, and earlier releases of "new COBOL". One shop has 100% of its load
modules compiled with OS/VS COBOL, using LANGLVL(1) and NORES. They
never even licensed VS COBOL II, and they have a non-current, but still
supported "new COBOL" compiler. Another shop has OS/VS COBOL, VS COBOL
II, and COBOL for OS/390 V2R1; they have compiled OS/VS COBOL into
production this year, and also done some VS COBOL II, although the
majority has finally swung to "new COBOL". The load module library is
still nearly 90% "old COBOL".

I also know of a large enterprise which has a similar situation - only a
newly acquired subsidiary is substantially on "new COBOL".

I'm curious about other shops - are most of them 100% on supported
levels of COBOL, or are most of them in the same sort of shape that
there shops are?

For those which are using a lot of "old COBOL", are they trying to get
upgraded? Is IBM's non-support considered to be an issue? Will they
try to go to the CICS and DB2 releases where only "new COBOL" is
supported without bringing their load modules up to the "new COBOL" level?

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