Impact of VMware's acquisition by Broadcom

[Steven_Michaud]

As many of you will be aware, VMware was recently acquired by Broadcom. There've been some (many?) layoffs, and the company has been divided into four parts (https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/23/broadcom_vmware_reorg) (https://siliconangle.com/2023/11/23/broadcom-restructures-vmware-four-divisions-closing-61b-acquisit...).

My concern is what impact this will have on VMware's Desktop Hypervisor, and particularly on VMware Fusion. I realize this is early days, and the information that's been published tends to be vague and non-committal. But is there any indication that the Desktop Hypervisor might be threatened, for example by layoffs within that group?

[ColoradoMarmot]

Anyone who knows future plans, can't say.  Anyone who comments is speculating at best.  

We'll know when we know.

[palter]

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/12/broadcom-cuts-at-least-2800-vmware-jobs-follo...

[ColoradoMarmot]

Saw that...nice way to say hello, isn't it?

[Steven_Michaud]

https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/07/broadcom_q4_2023/

[slgarwood]

oh well --- start my conversion of workflow to Parallels....or Linux

[Steven_Michaud]

I don't think we *know* that "end-user computing" (and its presumed Desktop Hypervisor and Fusion components) is going to be trashed. But we need to keep our eyes open. That it's going to be divested (*if* that happens) may even be a good sign. Mergers often destroy value.

[Steven_Michaud]

https://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2023/12/an-exciting-new-era-for-end-user-computing.html

Yes, it's corp-speak and very content-lite. But at least its tone is positive.

Here and in the previous comment I assume that "end-user computing" includes Desktop Hypervisor and Fusion. That's reasonable on the face of it, but I don't know if it's true.

[RDPetruska]

A lot of VMware's "end-user computing" actually centers around their VDI solutions, not the desktop hosted platform products.

[Steven_Michaud]

It sounds like "Desktop Hypervisor" and "Fusion" are up in the air, and maybe also the "ESXi Hypervisor" (part of vSphere).

Logically these three belong together. They must share a lot of code. And the first two logically belong under "End-User Computing", if that's going to be divested.

I haven't been able to find any references to where these three components will end up. I get the feeling this hasn't yet been decided.

[ColoradoMarmot]

From what I understand, this does not impact Fusion.  As Rob said, it's their VDI solutions.

[slgarwood]

Lest we forget - Fusion support was farmed out (to China?) some years ago. With the Apple VM support I can't believe anyone will want ro invest in a product that is low revenue, controlled by someone else, and is already outsourced.

It kind of makes me nervous about Parallels - Corel bought them (last year?) - not really in their core business line.

I could be very wrong but having lived through a couple of mergers/acquisitions it is going to be "what can we strip out and maybe get some $$$ for and who can we cut?"

[Technogeezer]

Here's the real problem as I see it. Desktop Virtualization is becoming a native solution:

• Linux has it built-in with libvert, Boxes, etc.
• Windows has it built-in with Hyper-V
• macOS has it built in with the Virtualization Framework.

Now, they may not be as fully featured as VMware's offerings, or compatible with ESXi, but for a wide number of users they may be "good enough".  Anyone buying the VMware desktop virtualization solutions in a divestiture would have to have a plan about how to get a return on that investment and keep the products differentiated from native solutions. If it is even possible. 

[Steven_Michaud]

Yes, @Technogeezer, yours is the best analysis of the situation to this point.

Broadcom might just abandon the Desktop Hypervisor, including Fusion. But if they go this route, I hope the end isn't sudden, and that the decline is at least somewhat graceful. For example, I hope older versions of Fusion retain support for at least a few years, and that newer versions (if there are any) won't deliberately break on newer versions of macOS. Here I'm speaking mostly about Intel Macs. Apple has already done its best to limit the usefulness of third-party hypervisors (like Fusion and Parallels) on Apple Silicon Macs.

[slgarwood]

I've been playing with UTM - for people in my situation (hacking, learning - nothing commercial) UTM will do the job.

Its Open Source, runs pretty well under Sonoma, and has a number of prebuilt systems - Windows of various flavors and all the varieties of Linux). It can also convert various VM pseudo disks to its format.

Of course if you don't mind dealing with Oracle VirtualBox is a possibility.

For us of the home use/hackering class VirtualBox or UTM will do the job if and when VMware goes away.

Workstation on Windows is another matter and probably more of interest to corporations - Hyper-V seems a possibility.

[Technogeezer]

UTM is my gateway to the Apple Virtualization Framework - which shows what's possible on the Mac with what Apple's provided. I know it can run ARM64 Linux and macOS , but Windows ARM is still a question mark for me. Quite honestly I'm not impressed with the performance of Intel emulation. Haven't tried installing Windows 11 ARM without the TPM and secure boot requirements to see if it'll work or not.

[Mikero]

We're not going anywhere I'm happy to finally be able to report!

https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2023/12/a-new-chapter.html 

Can't Stop, Won't Stop 😃

[wila]

---

@Mikero wrote:

We're not going anywhere I'm happy to finally be able to report!

https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2023/12/a-new-chapter.html 

Can't Stop, Won't Stop 😃

---

Woohoo.. that's good news.

A few questions if I may. I also read the linked article ( https://news.vmware.com/company/vmware-by-broadcom-business-transformation ) and it talks about doing away with perpetual licensing in favor for subscriptions and that you can't get SnS anymore. But... in the end Fusion and Workstation are not in the list of products that it affects.

Does this mean that our beloved desktop products will still be sold as a perpetual license?
Related question.. can people still buy support?

--
Wil

[slgarwood]

Great news!!

[ColoradoMarmot]

From the blog:

"Users will continue to be able to purchase and use our favorite desktop hypervisor apps the same way they have been for the past several years.  As well, folks will continue to be able to download and use the “Free for Personal Use” editions of Fusion Player and Workstation Player the same way they did previously."

That implies to me that it'll still be perpetual.

And - Michael - great news for sure!  Now if we can just decouple Fusion from eSXI we'll be in great shape 🙂