Broadcom execs say VMware price, subscription complaints are unwarranted

Industry groups aren't giving up hope for government intervention.

See full article...

 

[Frodo Douchebaggins]

However, Sylvain Cazard, president of Broadcom Software for Asia-Pacific, reportedly told The Register that complaints about higher prices are unwarranted since customers using at least two components of VMware's flagship Cloud Foundation will end up paying less and because the new pricing includes support, which VMware didn't include before.

and for those who don't use more than one component, and don't need support?

The Register reported that Cazard, as well as Paul Turner, VP of product management at VMware, and Prashanth Shenoy, VP of product and technical marketing for the Cloud, Infrastructure, Platforms, and Solutions group at VMware, all agreed that people who think moving to subscriptions is unfair aren't considering that VMware waited longer than many in the industry to implement the model.

"We waited longer than Adobe and Autodesk to non-consensually fuck you in the ass while you were sleeping. Aren't you grateful?"

 

[UserIDAlreadyInUse]

"Fox says henhouse does not need locking, claims chickens' fears unfounded."

@Frodo Douchebaggins, that's....a colorful metaphor.

 

[rsprinkle]

In other news, Apple, Google, and Amazon say they're not monopolies.

 

[Frodo Douchebaggins]

@Frodo Douchebaggins, that's....a colorful metaphor.

Gets the point across though, hopefully

 

[pokrface]

"Fox says henhouse does not need locking, claims chickens' fears unfounded."

The Fox was further quoted as saying, "We are eating the chickens at what we believe to be a sustainable rate. Really, we deserve to be congratulated that we waited as long as we did to start gobbling them down, because we are very hungry."

 

[rapster]

Well this is a refreshing change. Normally we're told that we're "confused" when monopolists and gatekeepers make sudden changes with major impacts. I'm glad to see they now respect us enough to merely say our complaints are unwarranted.

 

[Fuzzypiggy]

Unlike a lot of areas there's choices when it comes to VMs, you got your cheapo VirtualBox, KVM, MS Hyper-V, Proxmox and even straight conversions to several cloud providers who will gladly take on VMs as instances, with the advantage you can spin down your dev/test VMs overnight to save money unlike VMWare where you have to pay regardless of usage.

Sorry but if VMWare wanted to bend us over and give us lesson in being good, little customers, they left it way too late. 10 years ago they might have had a case that you didn't have man choices, now they know they need to make a cash grab as it's their last chance.

On a related note where I work we use the Broadcom's automation suite too, they also put the prices up on that product range as well and we're now looking at migrating out to either RunDeck or Azure/AWS cloud native roll-your own automation setup.

With economies picking up , many businesses have trimmed down on costs ready to pick up once the markets and economies pick up. Broadcom may get another year but in that time companies will have time and money to weigh up their options and I think Broadcom will feel the pinch in 2 years time.

 

[evanTO]

Broadcom executives are trying to convince VMware customers and partners that they'll eventually see the subscription-fueled light.

I think everyone in the world has caught on to the fact that subscription software models are very rarely about quality or customer benefits and almost always about increasing profits.

It's almost getting to the point that we need legislation to ban the practice.

If companies want the power of taxation then they need to have the same accountability as governments: transparency and democracy.

 

[msawzall]

will help people understand the value of the new VMware

Oh, people are definitely understanding your "value".

 

[hel1kx]

The Register reported that Cazard, as well as Paul Turner, VP of product management at VMware, and Prashanth Shenoy, VP of product and technical marketing for the Cloud, Infrastructure, Platforms, and Solutions group at VMware, all agreed that people who think moving to subscriptions is unfair aren't considering that VMware waited longer than many in the industry to implement the model.

Oh, phew, I am no longer concerned they're raising costs with subscriptions now since they waited longer than "many!"

 

[walkthelight]

This is an argument Broadcom has made before. Broadcom CEO and President Hock Tan called subscription-only licensing “the industry standard” in a March blog post defending VMware's changes.

this feels disingenuous on multiple levels.

The dad in me wants to say “so if everyone else is jumping off a cliff, will you jump off too?”

It’s odd that a company that helped set the standard for software sales is now claiming they need to move to “the industry standard.” what’s next? Mcdonalds is going to stop serving beef because Hala Express “set the industry standard regarding offering only seitan.”

Are you setting a standard or following another standard ? Why?

I appreciate they tried to communicate why the value they added is worth the increased price via a subscription. Tho I’d like to hear whether that added value adds up to the increased cost. Sure, you added support but is having a call center really worth triple the previous price?

It annoys me when companies shift entirely to a subscription model without bothering to sell me on why a subscription model makes sense here. Without that, I have to believe the shift is about hiding a price increase rather than enhancing your product.

 

[Necranom]

I have used VMWare for more or less all of my customers since back in the 3.5 days. From free to Enterprise level deployments.

Historically, I felt that VMWare maintained a great balance between their free zero support offerings and their range of paid services. I had multiple small customers that started out using the free version that grew into being substantial paid customers of VMWare.

Broadcom VMWare though is, as the article states, "brutal towards their customers".

Really just feels like they are trying to manifest this meme:

 

[mrhumble1]

Of course Broadcom is saying this. They're so goddamn out of touch to even think their new structure would be accepted that it makes sense that they'd be blind to the backlash as well.

SO GLAD the company I work for already has a stack of Nutanix boxes just waiting for us to install and migrate all our VMs to. Won't have to deal with VMware at all in a few months.

 

[daishi]

We were looking at purchasing one of their cloud products from them but the original team we were working with got let go, then had to work with a new team (which honestly were fine, no complaints) but when it came time to purchase they had destroyed their partner relationship with Dell so we went else where. I know we have a moderately sized on prem install and my boss has gotten pretty tired of dealing with the company not just vmware's ESXI and associated products

 

[CeeKay1]

I would love to see the data used by those executives that led to them saying "customers' claims are unwarranted".

But in reality, I'm sure their feelings were hurt so they're doubling down.

Customers will vote with their wallets. More drama to come.... stock up on popcorn.

 

[mrhumble1]

The dad in me wants to say “so if everyone else is jumping off a cliff, will you jump off too?”

Problem is, they ARE jumping off a cliff. Too bad they're taking a lot of other companies with them.

 

[Corporate Serf]

Greed sucks

 

[whoisit]

Problem is, they ARE jumping off a cliff. Too bad they're taking a lot of other companies with them.

The landslide has started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.

 

[Lemurs]

The problem isn't that there aren't a number of solid alternatives to VMware out there. The problem is that an entire generation of IT Professionals and IT Leaders have built their careers and reputations around justifying, building out, and managing large VMware deployments to their board of directors...and if they move to one of the alternatives, their skills and value to the organization goes down dramatically, because they're no longer the experts and no longer in control of the boat.

 

[sjl]

The Register reported that Cazard [president of Broadcom Software for Asia-Pacific], as well as Paul Turner, VP of product management at VMware, and Prashanth Shenoy, VP of product and technical marketing for the Cloud, Infrastructure, Platforms, and Solutions group at VMware, all agreed that people who think moving to subscriptions is unfair aren't considering that VMware waited longer than many in the industry to implement the model.

Wow. Three different people, all from Broadcom, all arguing Broadcom's point of view. I don't know about you guys, but I'm convinced.

... damn it, they just don't make sarcasm meters the way they used to.

 

[original_mds]

Broadcom may get another year but in that time companies will have time and money to weigh up their options and I think Broadcom will feel the pinch in 2 years time.

Anyone want to guess when the current Broadcom leadership team's stock options vest?

 

[LostFate]

"Government intervention", maybe in Europe. Would never happen here. Our leaders are so in thrall to corporate interests that they won't even regulate the cost of basic, lifesaving drugs (insulin, inhalers, Epipens.) Or negotiate reasonable drug discounts. Or outlaw use of carcinogenic pesticides. Or do anything but rubber-stamp every merger that comes across their desks, even if will clearly limit competition and harm consumers.

There has been movement to the contrary late in the Biden administration on many of these fronts, but it's hard to feel like it's anything more than token election year PR moves to motivate that part of his base which wants government to actually, like, make people's lives better and stuff. Because honestly, Genocide Joe, nee the "Senator from MBNA" is just as compromised as the rest.

Damn, was following during the first paragraph but then you lost the plot in the second.

He's been doing everything he can the entire time, with a dysfunctional Congress and a hostile Supreme Court. Contrary to popular belief; being president doesn't make you supremely powerful, to make unilateral decisions (in most cases... They can do some things with executive orders and some additional things during a crisis... Neither of which help with preventing corporate mergers). I mean, be mad angry about the Isreal-Palestine stuff until you pass out but it's not necessary to toss out all his other accomplishments during his presidency at the same time.

 

[baronvonthinmints]

This is some /r/wallstreetbets level of out of touch delusion.

 

[rbutler]

SO GLAD the company I work for already has a stack of Nutanix boxes just waiting for us to install and migrate all our VMs to. Won't have to deal with VMware at all in a few months.

I have several Nutanix boxes as well, and I have to say I'd rather stick with the horribleness of Broadcom/VMware then invest any more with Nutanix. Horrible support, and even worse subscription licensing costs than Broadcom -- bad enough that I'm considering replacing my Nutanix cluster with more VMware.

As soon as there's an SRM equivalent for Proxmox I'm heading that direction.

 

[first_citazen]

Just took 5 months and millions of dollars to renew our "Subscriptions". They didn't even have SKUs ready for months after the merger for us. Not the fault of our local account team, who was just as stressed as we were, since they had so many layoffs of their comrades. All they have done is taken any good will toward some great products, squander it, and open the door to several of their competitors. You can't write fictional stupid as shortsighted as that.

 

[candyfire]

Sounds like we all owe Broadcom an apology

 

[Wandering Monk]

Broadcom execs say VMware price, subscription complaints are unwarranted​

There, I fixed it.

 

[stormcrash]

Broadcom is so far outside their native market and core competencies on the whole VMWare purchase it's no surprise that it's all going sideways, they outright don't understand the business and how to run it

 

[GroBeMaus]

Yep, all the industrial software peeps jumped on the subscription-only customer on the tracks train! Autodesk, Adobe, Hexagon...I saw this coming from the first vendor that got away with it. Now they all want to do away with any type of customer owned licensing...and why wouldn't they? $$$$$

 

[RandomARSreader]

Broadcom execs -

 

[charliebird]

Our customers are wrong sounds like a winning strategy.

 

[LhamoLatso]

... easier to implement than before Broadcom took over.

This line means nothing to established customers who have already ....... implemented.

 

[nucrash]

Yep, all the industrial software peeps jumped on the subscription-only customer on the tracks train! Autodesk, Adobe, Hexagon...I saw this coming from the first vendor that got away with it. Now they all want to do away with any type of customer owned licensing...and why wouldn't they? $$$$$

You never owned anything, you merely licensed software. You're right though, we should have seen this decades go.

 

[Resolute]

However, Sylvain Cazard, president of Broadcom Software for Asia-Pacific, reportedly told The Register that complaints about higher prices are unwarranted since customers using at least two components of VMware's flagship Cloud Foundation will end up paying less and because the new pricing includes support, which VMware didn't include before.

If customers were going to end up paying less on the aggregate, they would not be making this change in the first place. Cazard is engaging in some remarkably disingenuous spin since what is actually happening here is that Broadcom is attempting to force many companies to buy services they don't need.

But by all means, keep price gouging like this. Because eventually, regulators (especially in Europe) are going to start treating the subscription model with the same critical eye it does loot boxes. And likely with similar results.

 

[jmauro]

The problem isn't that there aren't a number of solid alternatives to VMware out there. The problem is that an entire generation of IT Professionals and IT Leaders have built their careers and reputations around justifying, building out, and managing large VMware deployments to their board of directors...and if they move to one of the alternatives, their skills and value to the organization goes down dramatically, because they're no longer the experts and no longer in control of the boat.

Unless you’re doing something really esoteric, Hyper-V and Nutanix are fine. For small setups Proxmox is fine. There is also the option of no on-premises at all and just move everything into AWS, Azure, or one of the other cloud providers.

That’s VMWare’s problem. There are alternatives and they’re not that hard to actually do if you’re already virtual. (unless you use CUCM which is inexplicably only supported on VMWare ESXi).

 

[symbolset]

Any time you make yourself addicted to a thing, the provider of that thing has a plan to take your addiction hostage. Whether it's committing to natural gas appliances, electric and heat, or abstract software licenses. Commitment = bondage. The hostage situation is implied from the first day.

To avoid this the only cure is for everyone to commit to decommitment. Just don't go into a situation you don't have an extraction plan for.