An IBM Vice-President of GPD (I forget his name) appeared and talked at length about motherhood and goodness. This was a marketing exercise for all intents and purposes, and it was difficult to stay awake. Here are bits and snatches of the few interesting things he had to say:

1. IBM takes SAA very seriously. Expect SAA in your future.
2. It is unclear how serious IBM is about MVS/ESA, but the feeling I get is that XA users are nuts if they don't migrate.
3. R* (the decentralized version of System/R, which in turn was the DB2 prototype) won't see commercial light until after 1990. IBM is spending most of its development time addressing connectivity issues - how to wire the network together.
4. Recent IBM announcements have addressed about 30 SHARE and GUIDE requirements. Expect to find 50 more addressed this year.
5. IMS will be supported primarily for high-volume accounts. The high price for IMS will ensure that IBM gets no new IMS customers.