[Info-vax] VMWARE/ESXi Linux

[Dave Froble]

On 12/4/2024 8:20 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2024-12-02, John Dallman <jgd at cix.co.uk> wrote:
>> In article <vil9jg$3ives$3 at dont-email.me>, ldo at nz.invalid (Lawrence
>> D'Oliveiro) wrote:
>>
>>> . . . a company which switched from VMware to an open-source
>>> alternative as a result of Broadcom's massive price hikes,
>>> and encountered an unexpected benefit: the resources consumed
>>> by system management overhead on the new product were so much
>>> less, they could run more VMs on the same hardware.
>>
>> That will be nice if it happens, but the pricing is a fully sufficient
>> reason for moving. The way that some companies are seeing 1,000%, while
>> others see 300% or 500% makes customers very suspicious that Broadcom are
>> trying to jack up the price as much as each customer will take. If so,
>> they aren't very good at that.
>>
>> My employer was given a special one-off offer of 500% and went "Hell,
>> no!"
>>
>
> Are you sure your employer's response was not a little more Anglo-Saxon
> in nature ? :-)
>
> On a more serious note, does anyone else think Broadcom are showing absolute
> contempt towards their users ? It reminds me of the person who took over
> supply of a vital medical drug in the US a few years ago and promptly
> increased the price massively because the users of the drug where a capture
> market that _needed_ to buy the drug.

That action did not stand.  Forget the actual result.  Such activity is in need 
of feathers, rail, tar, and a rope.

Thing is, he didn't do anything illegal.

> This is so blatant by Broadcom, I'm surprised the EU has not got more
> seriously involved.
>
> Simon.
>

The key issue is whether Broadcom can at least recover their investment.  Many 
will be pleased if they fail to do so.

My bet is that the pricing might get some adjustments, should enough users 
refuse the high prices.  They will find a price that sticks with enough users. 
The problem with that is that enough users will accept some compromise.

Or maybe they need a large tax write-off ...

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
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