Re: "Every Shop Has Some Assembler Somewhere" - course update

From: Chuck Stevens (charles.stevens_at_unisys.com)
Date: 07/12/04 

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 10:25:08 -0700

"William M. Klein" <wmklein@nospam.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:l6zIc.152$mL5.148@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...

> To clarify, I think that Steve's course offering are intended ONLY for
IBM
> mainframe shops.

That much I was able to glean much later in the posting. The quotes I was
addressing were the subject line and the first line of the message, "Well,
it's true, every shop does have some Assembler code somewhere."

It may be true that every shop *to which he might market his software* has
some Assembler code. It may also be true that every shop *in which he has
any interest* has some Assembler code.

But I have to admit discouragement that contributors to comp.lang.cobol are
so quick to dismiss the relevance not only of Unisys' (and Burroughs' and
Sperry Univac's) contributions to the history of COBOL over nearly the last
five decades but also the continuing presence of Unisys MCP and Unisys
OS2200 environments not just in the US but worldwide. I'm not as familiar
with the marketplace of the OS2200 environments, but I can say that Unisys
MCP systems running applications written in COBOL represent a significant
presence worldwide, probably most prominently in the financial marketplace.

> Much of what he offers for COBOL would *probably* be usable for other
COBOL
> environments, but (as far as I know) are certainly NOT tailored
(targeted?) for
> such.

Well, that's my point. I have no objection to the product, nor do I intend
to denigrate in any way the value of his product *to those shops to whom it
would be useful*. However, that set of shops is not *every shop*.

I don't even mind sloganeering, but repetition of the slogan as *universal*
truth rather than clarifying the context in the repetition is a tacet
dismissal of any possible counterexample shops from outside the "every shop"
set.

    -Chuck Stevens

Relevant Pages

  • Re: "Every Shop Has Some Assembler Somewhere" - course update
    ... environments, but are certainly NOT tailored for ... >> Well, it's true, every shop does have some Assembler code somewhere. ... > I'd be hard-pressed to find any assembler code in your average Unisys MCP ... There's none in the operating system, the support libraries, the ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: OMG !!! WHAT HAPPENED HERE ?????
    ... marketplace like they have in all the 3rd world countries.You can shop ... for everything in one place.They are even taking over our Newsgroups ... Get a better usenet service and they are ...
    (rec.games.video.arcade.collecting)