Micro Focus has launched Visual COBOL 2.1 with support for Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012. As a COBOL application development environment, the product's value proposition hinges around a claim of being able to bring the productivity of modern IDEs to COBOL.
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This release is capable of deploying COBOL applications to platforms including Windows, .NET, and the cloud. The firm is trying to entice developers with an array of application deployment platforms, a set of deployment packaging options, service-oriented architecture capabilities for web services, and what it calls "a more efficient" developer experience.
So in many senses this is a message to route for COBOL-centric software application development to embrace the Windows 8 platform's improved resource management, higher levels of CPU performance, and scalability.
NOTE: Most importantly, Windows 8 enables users to develop and deploy existing COBOL applications to the latest Microsoft operating environment with no change to application code.
Micro Focus insists that it is helping to innovate and propel the COBOL language forward. "We are pleased to offer the COBOL development community this Windows 8 platform capability, and are excited to be one of the first to deliver it to the market," said Micro Focus spokesperson Kevin Brearley. "Visual COBOL 2.1 can now assist developers who require their existing ERP, CRM, or other applications to be Windows 8 compatible."
