Broadcom is making its VMware desktop hypervisors free for everyone, including commercial customers and personal users.
VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation are completely free, effective immediately. Broadcom announces. The desktop hypervisors will no longer cost any money for any user. Personal use had already been free since earlier this year, but those who need Fusion and Workstation in a professional or educational context will also no longer have to open the purse strings.
Broadcom has repeatedly shown that it is only interested in its very largest customers. Just about its entire offering is geared to the biggest players, which usually translates into unadjusted bundles and substantially increased bills for other customers. That the same Broadcom is making some of its offerings free is now somewhat surprising.
Road support
Part of the explanation is found when we look at what the announcement implies for paying (and usually smaller) customers. Their subscription will continue until the normal renewal date, including all modalities such as support. If they switch to the free version after that, nothing changes functionally. What does disappear is that support. Broadcom and VMware will still offer the software, but those with problems will be directed to online forums.
That is not to say Broadcom is no longer interested in VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation. The company promises to keep investing in new features and improvements for the time being. Those who want to get started with virtualization on Windows or Mac, and run other operating systems or containers, can get started for free. Note: To download the software, you need an account/