Hi,
Here a few VMware Workstation (++) Next Generation feature suggestions. Think of it of a journey for the next five years.
Please comment/add.
Image format support
This might be an oldie but surprisingly often converting image formats prevents users of using VMware Desktop Hypervisors more frequently.
The list: vhd, vhdx, hdd, qcow, qed, img
Marketplace
Single pane of shopping. Please add VMware Workstation & Co. to https://console.cloud.vmware.com > services. As a customer, the managing of subscriptions for the dev peeps must be the same as for the devops, infra and daily duties admins. That sprawl of entry points across VMware + VMUG pages. Why? There are no benefits. In the end, the payer is charged to the boss's credit card.
Images repositories and service katalogs
Bitnami images, VMware download images, etc. In VMware Workstation file menu, in the home tab and as cmdline, it would be nice to browse default and custom service katalogs and their images repositories. Choose an image and deploy.
Help resiliency
No internet connection - no help. Really? Consider a default docker container for offline useable docs.
GPU support
The display functionality with 3D graphics has evolved over the years. Physical GPUs today are interconnected by PCIe and thunderbold/usb4 type-c. Assigning one or more physical gpus to a vm must be supported in the future.
IoT
90% of OT is IT, right? Please create a good interconnection with VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator - Edge Compute Service
VMware Workstation to J.A.R.V.I.S
There is a gap between Greenplum users which benefit from MPP and native interfaces to interconnect with huggingfaces&Co. to make use of LLMs. As a VMware Workstation user, the setup of a generative AI system must become much easier. Think of an Ubuntu powered augmented reality system in a safety helmet for construction. Voice, cameras, LLMs - one VMware Workstation is key.
Life support
Consider introducing life support. Move subsystems (open source and closed source) if they no longer function. The reasons can range from lack of community interest to the hardware becoming so rare that it is simply not available any more. If subsystems in life support are not shown to be working within a reasonable timeframe, move them to an emeritus status.
As example, Broadcom/stblinux: Set-top box Linux (BCM7xxx) - kernel.org baseline (github.com) seems to be periodically supported but Broadcom/brcm80211: brcm80211 wireless driver development (github.com) seems to be dead.
