“Broadcom has burned all the bridges. While it may be easier to migrate to whatever this new [vSphere] Standard release is from vSphere 8, they have already shown both customers and [channel] partners they can’t be trusted,” he told Ars Technica.
You can find similar sentiments about trust in online discussions about VMware’s announcement.
“Too little, too late. We’ve moved on,” a Reddit user named bakonpie wrote about the upcoming update.
Broadcom’s stated interest in smaller sales comes as VMware rivals are openly vying for disgruntled VMware users, especially those that are SMBs.
“An updated vSphere Standard signals Broadcom heard the market, but three years of neglect, quote refusals, and VCF-only sales tactics have already pushed many SMBs toward Nutanix, Proxmox, and [Microsoft] Hyper-V,” Sumit Bhatia, co-author of the book Navigating VMware Turmoil in the Broadcom Era, told Ars. “Trust, not features, is the real deficit. Broadcom must prove sustained commitment—stable pricing, reliable renewals, and real investment—before SMBs treat vSphere Standard as safe again.”
