Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java

These systems have not been running untouched for 60 years. Regulatory environments change almost constantly and the code has to be updated accordingly. I don’t personally know anyone writing COBOL but I’m certain there’s plenty of people doing it. And to change the code you have to know it. So there’s really no 60 year old code that no one knows anymore.

Also, at this point, if you are running on a dead platform and language and you know it, and haven’t addressed it, then it’s on you. I’ve been seeing these COBOL articles since the 2000s I believe.

I've seen some currently used COBOL that had it's like change date in the early 80s in the finance industry, so there some rather ancient programs out there. Of course this also means that these files have met the needs of the industry that long and bug free so why go messing with things that move 100s of millions/billions of dollars per day.

Even if it's not handling billions of dollars a day... Why fix what isn't broken? Software isn't an end into itself, it's a tool to solve a business need. If the business need is met, there's not anything to fix.