#075 - Newsflash - VMware Workstation and Fusion licensing changes! (Did I hear free?)

Unexplored Territory

Summary
For this special edition of the podcast Duncan invited Michael Roy to discuss the latest VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion announcements. VMware Workstation and Fusion are desktop hypervisor products that allow users to run virtual machines on their PC or Mac. Starting today, Workstation and Fusion commercial licenses will only be available through annual subscriptions. The price for both products is now $199 per year. The free versions of Fusion Player and Workstation Player are being discontinued, but the Pro versions will be available for free for personal use. Support for personal use products will be community-based, while commercial users will have support included in their subscription. The focus of future innovation will be on the integration between vSphere and Workstation/Fusion, providing a local virtual sandbox for learning, development, and testing.

Takeaways

• VMware Workstation and Fusion are desktop hypervisor products for running virtual machines on PC and Mac.
• Commercial use of Workstation and Fusion is shifting from perpetual licenses to annual subscriptions.
• The free versions of Fusion Player and Workstation Player are being discontinued, but the Pro versions will be available for free for personal use.
• Support for personal use products will be community-based, while commercial users will have support included in their subscription.
• Future innovation will focus on integrating vSphere with Workstation and Fusion to provide a local virtual sandbox for learning, development, and testing.

Links

• Announcement Blog
• The Register article

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom or VMware by Broadcom.