The Micro800 series is not an Allen-Bradley product. It is a product that Allen-Bradley bought from another company and slapped their logo on. But CCW is nothing like Logix 500. The instructions are different, the memory addressing is different, everything is different. It's more different than the difference between the SLC and Logix platforms. It's as different from a SLC or Logix processor as a Fanuc or Mitsubishi controller is different. It's basically a "forget everything you know about AB Programming" scenario. It doesn't look the same, feel the same, or function the same.
CCW, like with most things, is free for a reason. Personally, I am not fond of the software. The user interface doesn't make sense, and it's constantly getting major updates (it's gone up five major revisions in the last couple years), which personally I think is a hallmark of a poorly-executed software release. Good news is that it's FINALLY getting to the point where it's decent, but it's not something I'd dive into personally.
The other issue is the longevity of the platform. Call me a cynic, but I quite honestly don't see the Micro800 platform being around in 10 years. The whole thing reeks of Allen-Bradley experimenting and trying to spread into too many markets. They're trying to compete in the "guy-in-a-garage-control-panel-builder" market, the "OEM-non-mission-critical" market they've historically occupied, and the "building automation/mission-critical" PAC market against Honeywell/GE/Modicon/etc. all at the same time. I personally just don't see the long-term support for these controllers being there when you're going to need it.
When I'm doing a job that calls for a PLC, the absolute lowest I will go is a Micrologix 1100. Personally, I wouldn't standardize on anything less.
