[Cobolforgcc-devel] FW: Final comment on draft (probably soon to be official) COBOL Standard

[William M. K. <wm...@ix...>]

FYI (for those of you who don't currently follow comp.lang.cobol - or
IBM-MAIN)
  I just posted the "following" to these groups.

-----Original Message-----

For those of you who might be interested,  my "US public review
comments" on
the final draft of the COBOL Standard can be seen from the INCITS (US
Standards body) web page at:

 http://www.incits.org/archive/2002/it02818r/it02818r.htm

That page links to
  http://www.incits.org/archive/2002/it02818r/prcmt2_fdis1989.pdf


FYI - Despite what I sent in (and what the only other public review
comment
received by the "due date" of Sep 9th said), it is my STRONGEST possible
expectation that this will be an "official" ANSI and ISO Standard
"around"
year end (of this year).

NOTE WELL:
  (This was sent to both comp.lang.cobol and IBM-MAIN).
For those of you in an IBM environment (mainframe *or* workstation),
all
current indications are that IBM has no *current* plans to implement
this
full Standard.  They have indicated that they will "consider"
implementing
specific features - based on user demand vs implementation resource
requirements vs expected revenue.

Although late public review responses need not be "fully responded to" -
if
you really DO want to send in a "late comment", you should follow the
instructions at:

  http://www.incits.org/prsweb.htm

I can't (personally) think of any "good reason" to do this, but that is
up
to every individual "COBOL interested" person.

Final Note:
  This information ONLY applies to the ANSI (US) review process.  If you
are
"involved" in COBOL in another country, you will need to contact your
national Standards body to find out what (if anything) they have done
about
this final "approval step" of the next COBOL Standard.

--
Bill Klein
 wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com