[German]End of the two VMware products: Workstation Player and Fusion Player, which were withdrawn from sale at the end of April 2024. Customers can use VMware Workstation as a replacement. Furthermore, there was brief confusion because security advisories for VMware products can now be found in the Broadcom support area, which was only accessible after registration. However, this plan has been dropped and the security information can now be accessed freely.
End of Sale forVMware Player/Fusion Player
In my blog post After discontinuation: VMware Player, Workstation and Fusion seems to remain I mentioned in January 2024 that VMware had indeed discontinued a number of on-premises virtualization products (ESXi). However, in January it was still stated that the VMware Player, Workstation and Fusion products would be retained.
Now German blog reader Michael Logies points out in this comment from May 10, 2024 that VMware has discontinued its two products VMware Workstation Player and VMware Fusion Player and no longer offers them for sale (thanks for the hint). You have to go to the VMware page VMware Desktop Hypervisors to the FAQs to get the following message.
The FAQ states that both VMware Workstation Player (for Windows) and VMware Fusion Player (for Mac) will no longer be sold. Their sale has already been discontinued, as of April 30, 2024 Workstation Player and Fusion Player are considered EOS (End of Sale) and can no longer be purchased.
Although Workstation Player and Fusion Player will no longer be sold, they will continue to work and receive product updates until the next major versions are released. And customers with active contracts will continue to be supported by VMware for the duration of their contract. This means that the products will be regularly updated and support tickets can be submitted.
Switch to full product versions
Anyone who has purchased a Personal Use license for Workstation Player or Fusion Player can now use the full versions of Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro without having to purchase a new license key.
Full versions include personal use license
VMware Workstation Player (for Windows) and VMware Fusion Player (for Mac) are now history. But VMware still has a treat in store: The installation programs for Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro now include a free personal use license as standard. This means you get the full version of Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro for personal, non-commercial use.
However, it is currently not possible to download the products, as the VMware Store is currently undergoing maintenance and everything will be moved to Broadcom by May 13, 2024.
Security advisories now freely available at Broadcom
There was some confusion because Broadcom wanted to publish the security notices for its VMware products after the move to Broadcom in a portal that was only accessible after registration (The Register had picked it up here). Although registration is free, the registration requirement would have meant additional hurdles. Frank McGovern had pointed out this problem in the following tweet on May 8, 2024 (he keeps a list of manufacturers who hide security advisories behind a support portal login).
In an update dated May 8, 2024, the VMware Security Blog states under the title Where did my VMware Security Advisories go?, that VMware staff has been learned that it is not necessary to log in to the Broadcom Support Portal to see a list of VMware Security Advisories after all. The following URLs show the list of security advisories by VMware department without the need to log in:
Why Broadcom made this detour and gave the impression that everything disappears behind a registration was not explained by the VMware staff. In any case, above you have the links to the security messages for the individual products that are now hosted by Broadcom.
Similar articles:
Broadcom acquires VMware for 61 billion US-$
Broadcom plans to sell VMware end-user computing and carbon black businesses
Contracts for all VMware partners terminated by Broadcom for 2024
VMware OEM portal offline, customers cannot activate VMware licenses
Broadcom ends perpetual licenses for VMware products – End of the free ESXi server?
Statement from Broadcom on issue after Symantec acquisition
Symantec acquisition by Broadcom ends in license/support chaos
After discontinuation: VMware Player, Workstation and Fusion seems to remain
Microsoft survey on virtualization: Migration from VMware
Private equity firm KKR buys VMware end customer business for 4 billion dollars
VMware product portfolio: Licensing internals; and Lenovo has been out since Feb. 27, 2024
VMware by Broadcom: "Things are not going well with the Broadcom plans"
Is Broadcom going downhill with its VMware measures? Silent layoffs and CISPE calls for EU measures
VMware by Broadcom: (Vain) hope of the partners for a White Label "lifeline"?
Bye, bye VMware ESXi: Field report on the migration to Proxmox
Proxmox releases import wizard for VMware ESXi VMs
VMware plans two Cloud Foundation releases, can they do it? CISPE complaint filed
Microsoft on the future of Windows Server 2025 Hyper-V
Massive price hike in license costs: Is Citrix now also copying the "Broadcom business approach"?
Private equity firm KKR buys VMware end customer business for 4 billion dollars
Analyses: VMware acts as planned with licenses; switching to alternatives a problem
VMware users: Attention, portal migration to Broadcom on April 30, 2024
Citrix: License renewal currently not possible? VMware deprecates old web client
Broadcom accommodates VMware customers with licenses; EU Commission sends questions
Broadcom: "VMware is not suitable for everyone (in the charity sector)"
Broadcom leaks email-addresses from VMware administrators; AWS is out as a VMware customer, relief for cloud customers
Unfortunately there is no RSS feed on the new Broadcom support portal.