this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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They canceled the ability to sell new licenses for all partners. For licenses ordered in time but not delivered before this it’s unknown whether you’ll get them. Their license activation portal went offline, so when you bought a license and got it, you couldn’t activate your software. Also they basically “fired” all of their partners and told them that they’re not eligible to offer VMWare hosting anymore unless they’re joining the new partner program and are accepted there. But it is unknown when the new partner program starts and what you hoops you have to jump through to get accepted.
So… they basically fucked most of their direct and indirect customers and didn’t provide a way forward while doing so. No wonder everyone mistrusts them now and is looking for an alternative
From what I gathered from news articles it looks like they want more control over how and where you host and will be moving everything to subscription based licenses. So it somewhat makes sense to stop handing out the current licenses and offer new ones. Problem is that it doesn't seem to be clear which licenses you can get, which conditions apply to those, where and when you can get them,...
I think it would have been mostly fine if they had allowed for more ti.e to transition and had everything in place for the future. Then add some communication and there might have been a shitstorm, but not the mess that happened now...
I don't mind it with SaaS. Also for enterprise software, you used to pay for the license and then a support package, which basically is a subscription, on top. So there's nothing changing per se.
Problem for partners is, that they don't know whether they'll stay partners and whether they'll be accepted in the new program. If not, they cannot provide their SaaS solution to their customers.
Imagine your company gets a letter from its MSP that basically reads: "Hey, VMWare doesn't give us information about our way forward, we may be unable to continue to provide you with VMs. This happens to all partners, so no need to ask other MSPs, as those will tell you the same. We currently don't know how to proceed, but in three months all VMs that you have hosted with us might be toast and the only people who can tell you what to do are at broadcom and don't give out any information"
I think the penny dropped when layoffs were announced and channel partners were cut off.