VMware by Broadcom, as the former VMware is now known, has in recent days dished out welcome news for its faithful.

Earlier this week, Michael Roy, product line manager for the Workstation and Fusion desktop hypervisors, revealed the products will continue.

"VMware by Broadcom is committed to our focus on the desktop hypervisor products and platform, today and into the future," he wrote. "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."

"We're all so very proud of what our small team has been able to achieve in the face of all kinds of challenges, so it brings me tremendous joy to share this message," Roy added. That reference to the team's achievement is a nod to the October release of a big upgrade to Fusion - the desktop hypervisor for macOS - and the Workstation Pro product for Windows and Linux.

Speculation about the fate of Fusion and Workstation centered on the fact neither is a huge money-spinner. Some also felt, incorrectly, that the products were part of the end-user compute business that Broadcom plans to divest.

Developers, vAdmins, and other users who rely on the desktop hypervisors can rest easy.

So can those who like to play with experimental VMware code, in the form of the unsupported "Flings" that Virtzilla has for years used to test new features or fill in the gaps in its products. A few weeks before the Broadcom/VMware deal closed, the site dedicated to Flings closed.

On Thursday, VMware by Broadcom staffer William Lam announced that Flings have been relaunched under the care of Broadcom's VMware Cloud Division.

That's the Division Broadcom CEO Hock Tan has declared is central to his strategy for VMware - suggesting Flings have powerful backing.

The Register has asked Broadcom to detail the licensing and product strategy changes announced earlier this week, but has not received a response.

But an early analysis of the changes -
posted by Yves Sandfort, CEO of VMware partner comdivision - suggests customers should like the new subscription licenses.

"We did some preliminary pricing validations for customers. So far, I must say it looks very good and very attractive," he declared in a video. "So far at least we couldn't see the massive price increases everybody was expecting. It actually looks very good." ®

https://www.theregister.com//2023/12/15/vmware_by_broadcom_update/