VMware
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VMWare unfair upgrade policy for Workstation 7 posted: Nov 1, 2009 3:09 PM

Click to view bchappell's profile Novice 9 posts since
Jan 24, 2006
Is it just me or is anyone else feeling somewhat bitter about VMWare offering the same upgrade price to both v5 and v6 owners?

Did I miss something or did I not pay for the privilege of upgrading from v5 to v6? Why did I do that? Why didn't I just wait for v7 and save myself some money? Hang on, I was an avid user who wanted to keep up to date, who gave VMWare more revenue and reported bugs in their v6 product while continuing to use it. A v5 user didn't do those things, they sat back, saved themselves some cash and now get the same upgrade price that I do.

Thanks a bunch VMWare. May be we should all make a point and skip v7, after all we should fully expect to get the same upgrade deal to v8 as the v7 users when it eventually comes out.

I'm feeling like it's time for a change of virtualisation software, time to look for a company that actually rewards people who are active supporters of their product, who stay current and provide them with a revenue stream.

I'm certainly not going to be recommending VMWare to any future customers of mine at the moment.
Click to view Liz's profile Virtuoso User Moderators 3,322 posts since
Dec 2, 2004
Everyones entitled to an opininon, however, its not uncommon for an "upgrade" price to be from any previous version, so I guess it doesnt rattle my cage like it does yours.
Click to view Scissor's profile Master 1,358 posts since
Oct 8, 2007
I'm sorry that you feel cheated somehow.

When Workstation 6 came out, you chose to buy the upgrade to WS 6 because it gave you features that you wanted and you felt it was worth the price. Other people may have stuck with WS 5 because they had no need to upgrade at the time. But during the past year (or so) you have been getting utility out of those features you paid for.

Now that Workstation 7 is out, people have a similar choice to make. I personally feel that a $99 upgrade price is a total bargain for the best desktop virtualization software on the market, but your opinion may be different.

Other people are upset that they bought Workstation 6 two months ago and so are not eligable for the same free upgrade to Workstation 7 as those who purchased Workstation 6 a month ago. The timing may suck for them, but at the time they purchased Workstation 6 they felt it was worth the price they paid. VMware can't give retroactive free upgrades to everyone who purchased Workstation 6 and still remain in business (although a month does seem a little short to me, but I'm not VMware so I don't know the reasoning behind it)
Click to view martyfelker's profile Hot Shot 205 posts since
Sep 30, 2005

I am not upset about the upgrade policy that VMware uses. However I am upset about the fact that VMware Workstation 7 includes a new version of VMwarePlayer that can create, as well as run virtual machines. I assume this is to match Virtualbox, which as a dfree progdram is improving constantly. So I pay big bucks for upgraDes so I can create VM's and then VMware gives that capability away? Please let me know if I'm mistaken here but the VMware WS 7 beta bundle had the new improved VMware Player included.

Not cool

Marty Felker

Click to view Joe1948's profile Novice 21 posts since
Dec 20, 2008
Well you're free to use the free products and put up with their short comings. I quit using Virtual Box because the networking sucked. MS virtuual pc was a dog and didn't run 64 bit so I switched to VMware and don't regret it and will probably upgrade when I switch to Windows 7. Unfair is the Vista Ultimate that never had much of the promised extras, MS didn't make us any half price offers for the piece of crap.

Joe
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru User Moderators vExpert 15,911 posts since
Jan 11, 2005
Well, if you are using Fusion on one computer, then you can always just use the $FREE Player 3.0 on the other computer -- it will run your Fusion 3 VMs just fine; and it even now comes with the capability built in of creating new VMs too! If you aren't using any of the advanced features which Workstation provides, then save yourself the money and just use the free product. :-)
Click to view Scissor's profile Master 1,358 posts since
Oct 8, 2007
bchappell wrote:
I upgraded my Fusion to v3 before realising how much more expensive Workstation 7 was .... I am impressed that all the responses seem to indicate that even in these harder economic times that so many people are happy to pay twice as much for something as some else.

Yes Fusion pricing is different than Workstation pricing. Perhaps Mac users don't have as much disposable income after spending so much on Mac hardware? Just kidding... If I had to guess I would say that Fusion's pricing is lower because, 1) Virtulization software on the Mac is a recent development (within the past 2 or 3 years), unlike on Windows, so companies are trying to get market share, 2) there are several decent competitors on that platform such as Parallels., 3) Large companies purchase Workstation and are not as price conscious, while Mac users tend to be using them on their home computers.

Although I just saw that Parallels has an $80 version for Windows now. Interesting.
Click to view Liz's profile Virtuoso User Moderators 3,322 posts since
Dec 2, 2004
Like most companies VMware seem to work on a 1-2 year cycle, if you want the new features you pay up, if you dont feel you need them, you dont. If you're good with the one you have no one is making you upgrade, however, if you want the new features, then, the decisions almost made, and know in 1-2 years time a new version will be out, and chances are you'll like some of the new features of that too. Least they dont do the subscription idea so that after 12 months your versionn doesnt work even if you dont want the new one.
Click to view martyfelker's profile Hot Shot 205 posts since
Sep 30, 2005

I'm not holding my breath on a fair upgrade for paying customers. In
fact I was rather annoyed that I would not have gotten the upgrade price
to 6.5.x unless I previously had purchased 5.0. Look back on the
record. You could not get 6.5 upgrade from 6.0! I figure VMware's
policies have changed for the worse since they were acquired by EMC.

Marty Felker
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru User Moderators vExpert 15,911 posts since
Jan 11, 2005
You could not get 6.5 upgrade from 6.0!

That's because 6.5 was an UPDATE from 6.0.x, not an UPGRADE. Therefore, it was FREE. Any 6.x license works on ANY 6.x version (host-OS-specific, however). This is the same policy VMware has had in place for the entire life of the Workstation product. 4.5 was a free update from 4.0.x; 5.5 was a free update from 5.0.x; etc.

To bchappel: For those of us who paid to upgrade 5.x-->6.x, we had use of features/functionality which was not existant in 5.x for the 2.5 years since 6.0 was released. Some feel the price was worth it, others may not have. But we GOT extra features for that money. Other people didn't want to spend the money until now, and now get (once again) new features/functionality not existant in 5.x. Personally, I have purchased and kept up a Silver support contract for my copy of Workstation since the 5.x days... for $34/year I get unlimited web SRs and any/all upgrades to the product released during the support contract cycle. Just last month I renewed for 3 years, for less money than the price of one major version upgrade. So, essentially, I've already paid for any upgrades to 8.x, etc. which occur in the next 3 years. To me, that's money well worth spent.

Click to view martyfelker's profile Hot Shot 205 posts since
Sep 30, 2005
Another horror. Yes I could install the free VMware Player on Windows 7 but when I wanted to install my licensed version of WS 6.53 it fodrced an uninstall of Player like usual. No matter. I have a dual boot of Windows 7 with Windows 2008 Server R2 and I'll install Player on the latter. Adios VMware (I've been a customer since version 2.0. The first commercial outrage was the rants when VMware removed support from OS/2 - which was workinig in beta! Guess you get to enjoy the Fortune 500 crowd.

Marty Felker

Re: VMWare unfair upgrade policy for Workstation 7

14. Nov 18, 2009 12:24 PM in response to: bchappell
Click to view P0a0u0l's profile Novice 7 posts since
Jul 22, 2009
Another way to make the upgrades fair is give 1 year of upgrades from the date of purchase. I bought 6.5 a few weeks before the cutoff date for free upgrades to release of 7 and expected to pay again? A 30-day free upgrade policy?? A lot of companies give you one year of upgrades regardless of the version number dance.

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