COBOL is dead.
Long live COBOL!!!
The CobolLanguage was first pronounced dead in the sixties. But, much like BobHope, it just won't go away. The full story on CobolCausesBrainDamage, though I think it glosses over the gravestone as if everyone's supposed to know that part already.
After 100 years, much it spent amusing US military personnel, BobHope finally did go away. COBOL is still here, though it's strictly a LegacyLanguage
Even today, however, there are relatively young people who've HadToUseCobol. Be Very Afraid of CobolScript.
The Computer Museum in Boston has a COBOL gravestone.
That's not A gravestone. That's THE gravestone, presented to the language's father just after the short term committee completed its nefarious work. The full story is given on CobolCausesBrainDamage ...
I have always said that I would rather bag groceries than do COBOL.
I'm not an expert, but from what I've seen, COBOL when paired with an intelligent editor seems reasonable for business logic.
When was the last time you could justify an entire language for domain logic other than SQL?
See also DefinitionOfDeath CobolLanguage