I would not be too concerned about what the Gartner Group says.

While they might be helpful in providing advice, it is, after all, not their business, it's yours.

I've seen them make many predictions which haven't panned out, for example their predictions about Sybase.
The Gartner Group are rather like Cult Preachers in the big tent with their prophecies: They get people excited, but in the end, be it according to your faith.

Mind you, anyone who totally ignores their advice is a fool, they do know a lot--we all need to have a balance approach here because it can be a gamble either way.

As you pointed out, experience with the "legacy" systems colors being loyal to your COBOL programmers who have taken care of your needs for years and years and years.
Employers should consider the fact that those without knowledge of their systems may not be the best choice.

Beyond that, often transitions of this sort gang aftly; may work for one business and totally flop for another: For example, it took me two years and lots of frustration to get all the patches right to run the Apache Java Server and get Enhydra up and running--there's lots of things people don't tell you about.

It would be unwise to put all your eggs in one basket, only to find that you needed the other baskets after all.

Nevertheless, businesses do what businesses do, so there may not be any reality once a business buys into a thinktank prediction.

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>>> Boris Kortiak <[log in to unmask]> 02/13 6:27 AM >>>
Thanks for the link.  I found the article interesting, but a little disconcerting.  It would seem to suggest that rather than retraining ones COBOL programmers, one would be better off just hiring skilled Java programmers.  It did leave me with some questions that may change the equation.  

How much experience do the COBOL programmers have with the current applications environment?  This would seem to me to have great weight on the train/hire decision.  If the in house programmers have a lot of experience and a deep understanding of the environment, what is the cost of training the new Java programmer to understand the system as well?

What are your thoughts?

>>> Doug Becker <[log in to unmask]> 02/12/01 03:06PM >>>
I will send the reference privately, but am uncomfortable with putting it on a public forum because of the verbage about not copying any of the Gartner Group's documents in any form. 
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