Tools to help embrace .NET
July 8, 2008
Micro Focus, the company which owns two of the three leading COBOL solutions for migrating 3000 shops, announced a new product today that expands the capabilities of its .NET offerings.
.NET has become a popular framework-cum-strategy for the migrating 3000 community. DB-Net, one of the longest-standing migration companies in the 3000 space, specializes in .NET. So does Core Migration as it carries PowerHouse users into the world of Windows servers.
The Micro Focus Net Express with .NET is getting updates to Net Express and Server Express, according to the MF press release. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 can now be used a tool for developing COBOL applications, according to Micro Focus.
Using a combination of strong COBOL compatibility and innovative language enhancements, enterprises can reuse existing COBOL assets across the enterprise, while also extending them into the .NET Framework. Developers can now build programs more efficiently, delivering greater business agility as IT departments can meet business needs at a faster pace. This will increase software developers’ productivity, freeing up more resource to develop further projects.
The Micro Focus release reminded us all that COBOL is the most widely used computer language in the world today, "despite an increasing array of programming languages." The migrating community might be able to shuck off the 3000, MPE/iX, even the IMAGE database. But not COBOL, at least for those firms who rely on their own in-house applications written over many years that hold much of the company's business logic and practices. Stuart McGill, CTO Micro Focus, said:
These latest additions underline our commitment to developing and enhancing our products in the application development market. Major upgrades to our COBOL tools mean that COBOL not only remains a contemporary language, but will continue to be seen as essential for enterprise solutions developers the world over. The software released today runs on 57 different enterprise class platforms.
Those platforms include HP's preferred 3000 replacement of HP Integrity Servers running HP-UX, as well as Windows systems. Micro Focus is having an introductory webcast dedicated to the new release of Net Express 5.1 with .NET, on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 11 AM EDT. You can register for the Web cast at the Micro Focus site.