Why Are Cobol Compilers Sooo Expensive? 1

[Dimandja]

For most other languages, $100 or so will get you a top of the line compiler. If you want a decent Cobol compiler, however, be prepared to shell out several thousand dollars.

Why is there this disparity?

Dimandja

 

[colonelbuck]

I don't know. You'd think that the COBOL people would take a hint from Microsoft and price their COBOL products in the same ballpark as Visual Basic.

 

[Crox]

It is good that the prices are sky high! That will encourage the people whom are making free compilers.

On the other hand the enterprise editions of many compilers is also expensive, say 1500 US$ or so...

But it would be great if you could get a COBOL compiler for about 100 US$ and an update for 50 US$. For example: Borland did this for Pascal in the past and that made them big.

Also some companies like CA are extremely difficult with this. I can not get a non-supported copy with a fixed price like they did earlier. One could get a copy for say 350 US$ but nowadays no postorders (to Holland), no fixed price offer, etc. Pitty. So I stick to the old copy.

When the boys from the Linux environment have a good working COBOL for me, I won't hasitate. CA doesn't consider me as a customer. Customers that take at least 100 copies, that is the minimum I am afraid....

Regards,

Crox

 

[gregsimpson]

You can get a good deal from Microfocus on Net Express University Edition as an individual/student. Although this gives you the full product plus some manuals, I don't believe the license allows you to create software professionally.

 

[RonaldB]

Don't forget that most COBOL compiler builders aim at the professional market, and when buying a package from one of them, you don't only buy the compiler but also the support behind it. Maybe COBOL just isn't interesting enough for the everage hobbyist... --------
Regards,
Ronald.

 

[gregsimpson]

http://www.geocities.com/capitalware/pc_win_dev.html

has a free compiler

or

http://www.infogoal.com/cbd/cbdcmp.htm

contains loads of links to cobol compile sites. Many of which are free.

 

[k5tm]

Taking a hint from Microsoft...

Visual Studio .NET (what Visual Basic has become)

Enterprise Architect
Full Packaged Product $2,499 US
Version Upgrade $1,799 US

Enterprise Developer
Full Packaged Product $1,799 US
Version Upgrade $1,079 US
(And note that this pricing is in the face of Microsoft's clear incentive to provide tools that support the company's mainline os and office suite products.)

...or Borland Delphi (what Turbo Pascal has become)
Delphi 6 Enterprise $2,999 US
Version Upgrade $1,899 US

What usually fuels this question/argument (enough times to warrant a FAQ? ) is the desire of an individual or small enterprise to acquire minimalist development tools. Most COBOL compiler vendors have tried at one time or another to respond to this aspect of the demand for COBOL development tools without compromising the support level demanded by the larger customers that have a "bet the business" investment/relationship with their chosen COBOL vendor. Tom Morrison

 

[StephenJSpiro]

The COBOL Compilers are so expensive because COBOL, far and away, is the most feature-rich programming language in the entire industry. And with the new standard, it moves from being the most feature-rich, versatile business programming language, to being the most feature-rich, versatile all-around programming language in the world.

Stephen J Spiro
ANSI COBOL Standards Committee

 

[RonaldB]

... and one of the very few (or even the only one?!!) with an internationally accepted industry standard behind it. --------
Regards,
Ronald.

 

[Guest_imported]

Interesting timing. Our company (theKompany.com) just released today what we call KOBOL for $39.95 download and $49.95 CD. For that one price you get the application on both Linux and Windows, an IDE with a syntax highlighting text editor, and a native compiler. No run time costs and free updates. You can read all about it and get a free demo from

http://www.thekompany.com/products/kobol.

 

[AustinOne]

Seems to me that there are one or two "almost free" Cobol compilers on CD's bundled with some of those teach-yourself COBOL books..., Learn Cobol in 24 Seconds/Minutes/Hours/ Days, Cobol Unleashed, etc. My mind goes numb after visiting the local Borders book store. Of course, $59.95 ain't free.

To combat the marketplace and all of its mixed signals, I believe the mainline COBOL companies such as AcuCobol, etc., should consider putting out a personal almost-free vanilla COBOL85 compiler for Windows and Linux that is otherwise dumbed down from the enterprise / commercial versions that have all the real bells and whistles.

 

[Gerbelem]

The beauty about the cobol platform for professional developers is that we are not tied up to a single development platform. With just a new runtime my programs will run on a just about every platform available from unix to IBM mainframes, Linux ( btw there is a pretty good Cobol runtime for Linux from AcuCobol ). Microsoft has stepped up prices almost to the other guys and they already talking of having runtimes in future...I just do not want to be tied up to any of the Microsoft products or to anybody else as a matter of fact !

 

[k5tm]

"Microsoft (is) already talking of having runtimes in future"

In the future? Microsoft gets a 'runtime fee' on just about every PC sold. Their marketing term for their current 'runtime' is Windows XP, the latest graphical version of their first runtime, MS-DOS.

Tom Morrison

 

[Guest_imported]

Fujitsu have allowed people to download Version 3.0 of their PC COBOL compiler... and it has appeared on CDROMs bundled with COBOL books e.g. COBOL for Dummies.

 

[Dimandja]

I just bought Visual Basic.NET for $100. I would be very happy to obtain a COBOL compiler for that price that packs the same "minimalistic" development tools and features.

 

[Dimandja]

It looks like we have a winner here

http://www.thekompany.com/products/kobol/

Assuming that everything promised is delivered (it looks that way so far), KOBOL is definitely the winner in COBOL compiler prices (and performance).

Good:

1. No expensive run-time costs to worry about, just compile your program on the target platform (like C).

2. Integrated IDE for code development and project management (like many other IDEed compilers).

3. Fully Object Oriented (like C++).

4. It is fully ANSI COBOL.

5. And the price! $59.95 (Download Version). Not a 'bargain' $3,000 and up as we have been told by other manufacturers.


Bad:

1. The name KOBOL! Why not tastefully KOmpany COBOL?


Dimandja

 

[dallasdino]

I did not see a debugger to step through code in the demo. Am I missing something?

 

[GoAS400]

I have purchased Fujitsu Cobol for Windows Standard Edition for $750. I love it. I don't do any GUI with it but the project manager is easy to use, and the debugging is actually understandable. Works like a champ.

It's a better investment than any Microsoft software I've every bought

John

 

[ShadowFox333]

Here is a case study that Rm did on our conversion
from mainframes to pc environment. We do a lot of printing
And I was able to do duplexing and print inverted on the second half of the duplexed page, all in cobol. (I swear).
I think we only paid about $2000.00 at the time, but what it saved us was much more.

I am the first case study for international Computer on the page.

http://www.liant.com/casestudies/

Enjoy Bob