Reasonably priced COBOL products (was: Where I can Download Netexpress ?

As usual, I will say that I have YET to hear of any commercial business-plan
that would support the production of a "reasonably priced" COBOL compiler for
"individual" use (with free distribution of executables AND support for the
compiler). I have been thinking a little more about why this differs from
other programming languages that can accomplish similar things and have come to
a TENTATIVE thought that the difference is:

Most (all?) other commercial compilers/interpreters are sold by companies that
do BOTH of the following:

A) Use the compiler to create OTHER products. They would probably continue to
develop and support the compiler for their own internal use EVEN IF they stopped
selling it externally today. (Compare IBM PL/X and I *think* what Chuck reports
for Unisys and Algol.)

B) Dropping the sale of their language specific product would have MINIMAL
impact (PRO or CON) on the companies bottom-line revenue.

Given those two "conditions" it is easy to understand how and why the vendors
can sell their compiler/interpreter without making a significant profit. Even
though Micro Focus (and I think historically other COBOL vendors) have used
COBOL to write their own compilers, they have not (to the best of my knowledge)
used it to create a significant number of non-COBOL-compiler products. (IBM
*did* use Micro Focus COBOL to create the first CICS for OS/2, but they no
longer do this; they have also historically created SOME MVS software in COBOL).

***

Another item that I have often commented on is the fact that the (relatively)
few people who actually participate in this forum give me (and possibly others)
an idea of how few people are doing COBOL in an "individual" work (or play)
environment. MOST (certainly NOT all) COBOL is still done in medium to large
enterprises. Those companies can (and do) pay for "enterprise-wide_ versions of
COBOL and its tools (and may even be able to get quantity discounts).

***

I can report (as other have) that the OpenCOBOL project is getting quite close
to creating an '85 Standard compiler (with some - not many - common extensions).
If you really, REALLY want such a compiler, then I suggest you participate in
its development. I (personally) think there are understandable (if not
desirable) reasons for the current state of "individually priced" COBOL
compilers and strongly doubt that this will (or should) ever change.

***

P.S. For those not familiar with them, you might want to study the history of
the Fujitsu "free" V3 compiler and the Micro Focus reasonably priced VisOC (and
early COBOL-only) products.

--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com
"tsquare21" <tlthomas21@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1140903840.317040.55330@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Crazy is what the COBOL produciers are $3000 dollars PLUS distributing
fees.

JAVA free or at most a small $49 price tag. free distributation.

C any variation Free to $150 (who dosn't have a upgrade option) again
most have free distributation.

Basic and Delphi CHEAP with free distributation. Well MS charges some
for it's corporate version.

Even Fujitso has a 1500 price tag (the one I use, free from Wardels
book) Does anyone know any limitation to this version of fujitso

Yes youi can find last years version of MF on EBay while suplies last
for under 100.

I guess the question should be is why we can't get a full version of
COBOL for $350 without upgrade options and $100-150 with upgrade
options. MF or whatever company owns you today. How about it, price
competive products. Just maybe you will not have to almost go out of
buisness again.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: On User Defined Functions and OO
    ... I know COBOL for its "externals" (and I know ... there are "two flavors" (or externals) for Object Orientation ... From an explicitly EXTERNAL point of view, the compiler developer ... Now, when it comes to RUN-TIME support for these, there is a lot ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: COBOL Transactions?
    ... Subject: COBOL Transactions? ... Oracle still support. ... very high quality of the compiler in question. ... I don't know what an RMS journaling license costs a la carte, ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • On User Defined Functions and OO
    ... nor was I ever a "compiler developer" (or even a run-time ... I know COBOL for its "externals". ... Now, when it comes to RUN-TIME support for these, there is a lot more than ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: Experience with "cobol-it" cobol?
    ... "OpenCOBOL has benefitted from the work of COBOL-IT, ... commercial COBOL, has been the standard for comparison of features, ... COBOL-IT does NOT have XML support ... such a migration would make the cost of the Fujitsu or Micro Focus compiler ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: invoking a method
    ... The use of SET as shown here, will not work outside the Fujitsu Object COBOL ... invoke DBObject ... I will admit I have not worked on anyone else's Cobol compiler so I ... typical reference manual for a Cobol Compiler will have line and box based ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)