[German]The rumor has been confirmed, VMware by Broadcom has released VMware Workstation and Fusion of free use for all – also for business users – on November 11, 2024.
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VMware Workstation Pro previously "free for Personal use
VMware Workstation Pro is a desktop virtualization solution from the US company VMware by Broadcom that runs on Linux and Windows (the variant for macOS is called VMware Fusion). With VMware Workstation, virtual machines can be created and used to run operating systems such as Windows or Linux.
In May 2024, VMware by Broadcom released the use of VMware Workstation Pro and VMware Fusion Pro for "personal use". This means that users have been able to use the two desktop virtualization products under Linux, macOS and Windows for non-commercial purposes free of charge since this date.
For commercial use, however, VMware Workstation Pro and VMware Fusion Pro had to be purchased from VMware. A few days ago, I mentioned in the blog post Will VMware Workstation be free soon also für business user? that VMware will making its two desktop virtualization products generally available for free use on 11.11.2024.
VMware Workstation/Fusion now free for all
This has now been confirmed by VMware in the blog post VMware Fusion and Workstation are Now Free for All Users from November 11, 2024. Readers had pointed this out to me on Mastodon and X (thanks).
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The desktop hypervisor products VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation will be available free of charge for everyone from November 11, 2024, i.e. for commercial, school and private users alike.
Effective immediately, both VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation are no longer offered as a paid subscription model and are now free to use. The free version will include all the features you are used to from the paid version.
The paid versions of these offerings – Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro – are no longer available for purchase. I already mentioned the latter in my blog post Will VMware Workstation be free soon also für business user?
Current subscription customers who have a commercial contract are a bit screwed. VMware says: "These customers can be reassured because the contract remains valid until the end of the term. Customers will continue to receive the full level of service and business support as per their contract.
Customers can continue to use the product when the contract expires. However, there will no longer be any support for errors – support tickets will no longer be processed. However, all users will have access to online resources, including documentation, user guides and community forums.
However, if I summarize the information from the above text, VMware should soon discontinue the further development of desktop hypervisors – surprises not excluded. In addition, there have already been some functional announcements with the update to VMware Workstation Pro 17.6. According to the release notes, Unity Mode and Bluetooth Hub Passthrough have been dropped. VMware Tools are also no longer supplied as an ISO.
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Will VMware Workstation be free soon also für business user?
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