Re: MIDRANGE-L Digest V3 #452

[Jon.Paris@xxxxxx]

 >> Ok Hans any chance we will get a W-Code compiler???

 > rumor has it you can license it for $1,000,000.00.
 >So don't say IBM keeps it all to itself...  :-)

It's not exactly a rumour.  I can't speak of the current status (having
left IBM nearly two years ago) but my understanding was that the license to
W-code had a very high (supposedly $1,000,000) base price.  Anyone could
ask for a "Special Bid" and the actual price would be set depending on how
much IBM wanted that particular tool to be ported to the box.  You can bet
the price would be relatively low for anything they really wanted.  Even
then it would be almost certainly out of reach for the average person/shop.
Remember it was never intended as a product so documentation etc. is
"thin".

Don't forget that even on so-called "open" platforms very few tools
generate out to the hardware - that makes you way too platform specific -
they don't even generate assembler - they tend to generate C, C++ or (these
days) Java.  I don't see that you're missing much by not being able to code
in W-code.

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