On Friday, May 14, 1999 09:18, Gary Nolan wrote,

> We here are Transact users (and love it), but we have a consultant in
trying
> to convince us that it is a dead language  (and that we should move to PC
> based software). I would like to know how many sites are actively using
> Transact. Any ideas were I could get this info?

Transact falls under the umbrella of virtually every other language - either
one hates it, or loves it.  You have an alternative to COBOL (or FORTRAN, or
RPG, etc, etc, etc.)

If you have a host-based application, and it's working for you, then why
change?  OTOH, there's things that Transact (or COBOL or FORTRAN, etc. etc.
etc.) cannot do from the PC side, if that's where you're heading.

So, to say that "a consultant is trying to convince us..." is ambiguous.
What are you (or your company) looking for?  What is s/he proposing?  If
it's just to replace Transact, I would think very hard first.

There are some convincing reasons for moving - the biggest in my experience
is the talent pool (and this has a lot to do with the part of the world
you're in as well).  Here in BSEPA, Transact talent is so thin, that people
who have a solid background in RAPID can command some nice salaries.  There
are also consultants who charge reasonable rates, who specialize in Transact
(Cecile Chi comes to mind who I would recommend highly, and I'm sure there
are others).

Personally, I would not use Transact - I'm on the side of the fence that I
cannot stand the language - but that's a personal opinion which is not open
to criticism - but I would never tell a client that they need to change,
just because the source is in Transact.  There has to be a compelling and
convincing reason to make the switch.

Cheers,
Joe (not a Transact user, but can sympathize with those who are)