[Info-vax] Broadcom ends availablility of the free edition ESXi Hypervisor

[Chris Townley]

On 13/02/2024 19:30, Dan Cross wrote:
> In article <uqfqqh$23o3b$1 at dont-email.me>,
> Simon Clubley  <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote:
>> On 2024-02-12, Chris Townley <news at cct-net.co.uk> wrote:
>>> On 12/02/2024 18:42, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>>> For those of you using the free ESXi Hypervisor to run VMS on x86-64,
>>>> be aware Broadcom have now removed the free edition download:
>>>>
>>>> https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2107518?lang=en_US
>>>>
>>>>   From that document:
>>>>
>>>> |Along with the termination of perpetual licensing, Broadcom has also
>>>> |decided to discontinue the Free ESXi Hypervisor, marking it as EOGA (End
>>>> |of General Availability).
>>>>
>>>
>>> Surely nobody will be surprised...
>>
>> To be honest Chris, given their reputation, I am surprised it took them
>> as long as it did. :-(
>>
>> I suspect that by the time Broadcom get through with this, people will
>> regard IBM's mainframe licencing as a model of liberal licencing by
>> comparison. :-)
> 
> It sure seems like they're trying to take a page out the IBM
> license model for the mainframe.  z/VM on z/Architecture _may_
> be the greatest virtualization technology ever created, but IBM
> does not it make it easier to build developers for it.
> 
>> The industry rumours seem to indicate that Broadcom are willing to let
>> most of their customers go, provided they can hold on to the top XX%
>> of highly profitable customers and squeeze them for licence fees.
> 
> Yup.  As a colleague put it yesterday, "buy a company with
> locked in customers and bleed the customers dry while cutting
> costs to maximize quarterly profits."
> 
>> _If_ that is true, then someone should remind them there are alternatives,
>> this is not z/OS (with its unique ecosystem), and that the next generation
>> of people will become very familiar with those alternatives.
> 
> Or don't remind them and just move to those alternatives.  We'll
> sell you a computer!  :-D
> 
>> IOW, _if_ the rumours are true, then this would appear to be a short-term
>> approach, and they should be reminded exactly why (for example) Linux came
>> to crush the commercial Unix ecosystem.
> 
> Short term indeed, but pretty typical.
> 
> 	- Dan C.
> 

Also KVM works well, which of course is free software

-- 
Chris