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There are a significant number of programmers who are at a certain stage in life where they will not be able to make the next "transition." Imagine hearing, "We're sorry, but we will no longer be supporting algebra and English."

Quit whining, Fortran and Cobol are pretty much dead languages too. Though Cobol made somewhat of a comeback.

I started programming in the mid 60's in ALC but quickly moved to COBOL and have never looked back. I have had occasion to try the new "language de jour" along the way. I actually liked VB as it was easy to learn and vba has been quite useful in office apps, but I have not found a situaion where COBOL has let me down. As I near retirement, I have thought of what to do with the applications that are still runing but I imagine they will be runing long after I'm gone. The COBOL compiler developers are adding new features every day. I have COBOL applications which have the look and feel of windows. Many of these apps where written over twenty years ago. I just updated as new features became available. I don't see that changing for many years. My apps may not be 'pure' COBOL as I incorporate the tools I need to get the job done, but under the COBOL umbrella!