System iNetwork

May 2009

May 28, 2009 11:11 PM

Cobol Celebrates 50 Years—Alone

Aaah, lucky us. Because we know what Cobol is, right?

C'mon, you know—the COmmon Business-Oriented Language (thank you Wikipedia) created by the Department of Defense, computer manufacturers (IBM was there), and university people to further harness computing and the programming of business applications. It's one of the lovely little languages you can use on IBM's mainframes, or with IBM i.

But what you probably don't know is that it turned 50 on Thursday.

Yes, that's right. Happy birthday Cobol! The meetings (at the Pentagon, no less) that initiated Cobol occurred May 28 and 29 in 1959.

I bet if you had known sooner you would have put on a little party hat and had a piece of cake for the programming language. Perhaps you would have even sung.

But, alas, Cobol celebrated alone—or darn near it.

According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Micro Focus (a vendor of enterprise application management and modernization solutions), only one in four survey respondents have heard of Cobol or know what it is.

And, of course, men are more than twice as likely as women to know about Cobol, with 33 percent of male respondents versus just 14 percent of female respondents aware of Cobol's existence. Among age groups, middle-aged respondents (45-54) were most likely to know about Cobol (29 percent), as opposed to younger generations. Of the respondents aged 18-34, only 15 percent knew what COBOL was.

According to the survey results, the average American relies on Cobol at least 13 times per day for routine activities such as making phone calls, using a credit or debit card, and commuting to and from work. All these daily transactions are originally based on Cobol.

And yet three quarters of the surveyed folks are oblivious to the programming language that originally made it all possible.

Datamonitor said in its November 2008 report "Cobol—Continuing to Drive Value in the 21st Century," that

• Around 200 billion lines of Cobol code are in live operation.


• 75 percent of the world's business data is processed in Cobol.


• 90 percent of global financial transactions are processed in Cobol.


• There are 1.5-2 million developers, globally, working with Cobol code.


• Around 5 billion lines of new Cobol code are added to live systems every year.

So if you missed the non-existent celebration, don't worry. It isn't too late to spread a little hoopla in honor of the programming language. To commemorate the 50th birthday of Cobol, Micro Focus has launched a social media hub of videos, photos, and Cobol facts at cobol.com.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Posted by rsanders on May 28, 2009 at 11:11 PM | Comments (6)

May 27, 2009 12:03 PM

Hands Off That Free Screensaver, and Don't Even Think About Music Lyrics

A McAfee study suggests that one of the best ways to get your PC infected with malware is to search the web by using terms such as "screensaver" or by using lyrics from popular songs. So, when it comes to screen savers, perhaps we should all leave well enough alone and stick with our systems' default offerings.

And those music lyrics you want to look up . . . might be safer to just keep singing the wrong words instead!

—Linda Harty, executive editor & security/availability/networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on May 27, 2009 at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2009 9:45 AM

LISUG Offers Annual May Education Day for IBM i Enthusiasts on Long Island

Easterners looking for a bit of education to pump up the volume on their resumes have the opportunity to attend a full day of IBM i sessions during the Long Island System Users Group's (LISUG) Annual May Education Day on May 20. Attendees also will have the opportunity to network with retired IBMer Dr. Frank Soltis, the "father" of AS/400 technology, and attend a vendor exposition.

The event features four educational tracks: IBM i (RPG and the Web, RPG and the IFS, pattern to Good ILE with RPG, Accessing External Databases from the Web); Web Technologies (.NET, PHP Lab, The "Hows and Whys" of Virtualization-as-a-Service); Project Management (PMI and PMP, MS Project, PMBOK Project Metrics, Avoiding Confrontation); Career Advancement (Personal Workflow Management, Resumes and Interviewing, Positive Speaking).

LISUG says on its website that it has expanded the event this year to include topics beyond IBM i and RPG because it "has recognized that the focus is not only on enhancing your current technology skills, but also on retaining your current position and/or preparing for the next opportunity. This means learning how to 'market' yourself, finding opportunities, and improving your personal 'value equation.'"

Annual May Education Day will be held at the Melville Marriott in Melville, N.Y. The cost to attend the sessions is $100 for LISUG members, $125 for non-members, and $50 for students. More information is available at lisug.org.

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, Senior Industry Editor

Posted by rsanders on May 13, 2009 at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2009 2:39 PM

System iNetwork Offers Free Virtual Conference for IBM i Developers

Just a heads up about a free virtual conference for IBM i developers, taking place tomorrow, May 13, 9:30-5:30. EST: Taking You There: IBM i Development Essentials. System iNetwork News Editor Chris Maxcer and I will both be there at various times throughout the day, and we're looking forward to chatting with attendees and seeing what they think of the experience. Of course, the real draw is the top-notch industry experts, such as Jon Paris, Duncan Kenzie, Bob Cozzi, Don Yantzi, Craig Johnson, Bill Langston, and Meg Waters, who will be offering five nitty-gritty webcasts:

• what's new with IBM i
• free tools for RPG for the Web
• PHP is for i
• increasing ROI and competitiveness with BI
• RPG and Cobol develepment with RDi

As I mentioned, this is a free event, so given the current state of the economy and its affect on corporate travel and expense budgets, this is an excellent opportunity for you to get some training that you might not otherwise receive this year! You're welcome to hang around all day, but you don't have to--simply pick and choose which sessions you want to attend or drop by the Resource Center to download documents, the Exhibit Hall to visit some virtual booths for solution information, or the Networking Lounge to chat with others in the industry.

If you haven't attended a virtual conference before, you're in for a treat. I was able to get a sneak peek at the conference today, and it is really neat. It reminds me of a video game--without the aliens and the weaponry, of course. Instead, you get a Briefcase, in which you can store presentations, documents, contacts, and more so you'll have them after you leave the conference. Plus, you use the Briefcase to store points to enter prize drawings.

Here's how the prize drawings work: Show attendees are automatically entered into prize drawing contests but must meet minimum requirements to qualify to win the prizes. Attendees must receive 250 points to enter the show prize drawings. Attendees gain points by performing various activities such as visiting booths, exchanging Vcards, viewing webcasts, and viewing documents. Points will be calculated at the end of the live event day, 5:30 p.m. Eastern, May 13, 2009. The attendee with the highest number of points will win a Flip Ultra Digital Video Camcorder. The attendee with the second-highest number of points will win one RPG & Beyond Web Conference Full Registration for the 2009 web conference to be held in September. The attendee with the third-highest number of points will win a one-year subscription to System iNEWS ProVIP Expanded Edition. Winners will be notified within one week of the live event date via email. There are also prizes from the virtual show exhibitors; visit each booth for details.

Hope to "see" you there—sign up now!

--Linda Harty, executive editor & security/availability/networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on May 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM | Comments (1)

May 6, 2009 9:32 AM

mrc Wants You to Outsource to America

This little nugget just about slipped by with all the hullabaloo surrounding COMMON's conference, but it's well worth sharing: software tool developer mrc has created an "Outsource to America" promotion that's designed to help keep jobs in America.

"Basically, we'll beat any outsourcing quote for web application development," notes Sal Stangarone, senior product consultant for mrc. "Tell us your project, show us your outsourcing quote, and we'll beat it, simple as that."

mrc says it realizes that companies everywhere need to cut down on costs, which often means offshore outsourcing; however, when it comes to web application development, offshore outsourcing isn't the cheapest option.

Here's a few key example projects that mrc says might be outsourced:

• Web reporting solutions
  
• Order entry systems
  
• Executive dashboards
  
• E-Commerce sites
  

"This offer contradicts the belief that outsourcing is the cheapest option," Stangarone notes, adding, "Show us a current outsourcing quote and we will prove it."

Nice.

--Chris Maxcer, News Editor

Posted by cmaxcer on May 6, 2009 at 9:32 AM | Comments (1)