Broadcom Sends Cease-and-Desist Letters to VMware Perpetual License Holders

VMware's new owner is pushing legacy license-holders to buy costly software support subscriptions. Broadcom says it may audit VMware users to make sure they're not skirting the rules.

Broadcom has been sending cease-and-desist letters to owners of VMware perpetual licenses with expired support contracts, Ars Technica has confirmed.

Following its November 2023 acquisition of VMware, Broadcom ended VMware perpetual license sales. Users with perpetual licenses can still use the software they bought, but they are unable to renew support services unless they had a pre-existing contract enabling them to do so. The controversial move aims to push VMware users to buy subscriptions to VMware product bundles, with associated costs that have increased by 300 percent or, in some cases, more.

Some customers have opted to continue using VMware unsupported, often as they research alternatives, such as VMware rivals or devirtualization.

Over the past ...