VMWare announced on Monday that Workstation Pro for Windows and Linux, and Fusion Pro for Mac are now free for personal use.
The cloud technology and virtualization division, now a subsidiary of Broadcom, will have two licensing models for its Pro applications — a «Free Personal Use» subscription or a «Paid Commercial Use» for organizations. Depending on the use case, users can decide if they require a commercial subscription.
Professional applications are now free for personal use
«VMware Desktop Hypervisor Fusion and Workstation products are used by millions of people. every day to run virtual machines on their Windows, Linux, and Mac computers. They provide users the ability to quickly and easily create ‘local virtual’ environments to install other operating systems, learn about technologies, develop and test software, complex systems, browsers, applications, games, and much more,» wrote Michael Roy of VMWare in the article official blog, announcing the change.
«For many in our community, Workstation and Fusion are the first VMware products that they have ever used, and it is an important tool. To understand Virtualization as well as the basics of vSphere. In addition, commercial organizations benefit from VMware Desktop Hypervisor applications for a number of reasons including application and system development and testing, as well as interaction with their vSphere environments.»
Additionally, VMWare is discontinuing its VMware Workstation Player and VMware Fusion Player products, which will no longer be available for purchase. Furthermore, users of the Personal Use Player products can transition to the more fully-featured Pro versions for free.
However, Workstation Player for Windows and Linux and Workstation Pro require a new download and installation but are licensed for personal use by default. Users will need a customer account on the support.broadcom.com website to access downloads.
With the new commercial model, VMware has streamlined its product offerings into a single SKU called Desktop Hypervisor for users requiring a commercial use license. This simplification eliminates over 40 other SKUs and significantly streamlines the pricing and purchase of VMware Desktop Hypervisor, Fusion Pro, and Workstation Pro applications.
The new Desktop Hypervisor application subscription, priced at $120 per year, provides access to VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro products.
The company also announced that it has enlisted a new reseller, Digital River, to support customers without the need for an existing commercial account. Commercial customers can purchase a new paid subscription through an authorized Broadcom Advantage partner or in the new online store: https://store.cloudvista.com.