[German]VMware by Broadcom wants to force customers with purchase licenses (perpetual licenses) into maintenance contracts. Customers with such VMware purchase licenses, but without a valid maintenance contract, have probably received cease-and-desist letters from Broadcom prohibiting the installation of updates.
I have reported extensively here on the blog about the upheavals at VMware since the purchase by Broadcom. After the acquisition of VMware in November 2023, Broadcom stopped selling perpetual licenses for VMware products.
Users with perpetual licenses can continue to use the purchased software. However, the support services can no longer be extended; only customers with an existing contract can continue to book support. Users should buy subscriptions for VMware products. Through bundling, Broadcom is increasing prices by 300 percent and more.
Some customers have decided to continue using VMware without support as they are looking for alternatives. Since April 23, 2025, a change in vCenter updates has come into force, so that updates can only be pulled and distributed with update tokens. The tokens are available with a support contract. In the blog post VMware vCenter: Update tokens required as of April 23, 2025.
Cease-and-desist letter shippedgeschickt
From the following tweet and the article VMware perpetual license holders receive cease-and-desist letters from Broadcom, I understand that Broadcom is sending VMware customers with perpetual licenses a cease-and-desist letter.
ArsTechnica now reports that some VMware customers running VMware without support have received cease and desist letters from Broadcom. In the letters (PDF version), the recipients are informed that their contract with VMware and thus their right to support services has expired.
The letter, signed by Broadcom CEO Michael Brown, asks users to stop using any maintenance releases/updates, minor releases, major releases/enhancements, enhancements, patches, bug fixes or security patches (with the exception of zero-day security patches) that have been released since the end of the support contract.
The letter advises users that the implementation of such updates "must be removed/uninstalled immediately after the expiration date. Any such use of support after the expiration date constitutes a material breach of the agreement with VMware and a violation of VMware's intellectual property rights, which could result in claims for increased damages and attorneys' fees, the letter states.
ArsTechnica cites customers of Members IT Group, a managed services provider (MSP) in Canada, who have received this letter even though they have not received any VMware updates since their support contracts expired. One customer, according to IT Group CTO Dean Colpitts, received a letter six days after his support contract expired.
In the meantime, someone has picked up on this on YouTube, and someone in the Spiceworks community reported such a letter here. Fun fact in the Spiceworks case is that this user had already migrated from VMware to Proxmox. It looks like VMware by Broadcom sends these letters to customers as soon as their maintenance contracts have expired. They do not check whether the product is still being used. Those affected have contacted their legal department. Broadcom also warns of possible audits in the letter. Have any of our readers received such a letter?
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