XML moves COBOL into the .NET and J2EE arenas

In the recent standards thread, there was some discussion of the continuing
evolution of COBOL (Deutsche Bank using COBOL with XML,  ISO updating the COBOL
standard, Micro Focus selling a COBOL for .NET).

Now IBM has announced a COBOL for developers in the enterprise Java arena. It
uses XML bi-directionally.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/05/11/HNcobol_1.html
"Developers can write EJB in Cobol 3.3 on WebSphere z/OS, which is the mainframe
version of the WebSphere application server."

There's been a sizable investment in COBOL in recent years. First Y2K, now for
XML, NET and EJB.

emacs, SGML, COBOL and the Mini Cooper. Hmm. Probably time to invest in a
company making bell bottom pants.