Comments on: VMware ESX for free? The heat is on

By: CJGarrett

CJGarrett — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:06:08 +0000

Getting training on a product is an easier sell to your boss or CIO if he’s already financially committed to that product. Try asking a CIO or CFO to budget training for a free product. More often than not, they’d rather you put in extra time Googling or just hacking away.
It’s precisely because ESXi is given away that we’re seeing very low levels of take up in the enterprises we deal with, and then it is being used in non critical areas like test & dev. Management do not place any value on a free product.

By: Esiebert7625

Esiebert7625 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:03:43 +0000

But they are already giving away a core product in ESXi, it’s the same Hypervisor as ESX. Wouldn’t consulting opportunities increase if they also gave ESX away? There would be more people needing help with properly installing and configuring it. The problem with ESX & ESXi are they are really too easy to install and almost anyone can do it but many times it is not configured properly which it takes experience to do. Additionally it may drive more people to take classes to learn how to install and configure it.

By: CJGarrett

CJGarrett — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:07:56 +0000

The problem here is when you give something away for free, it is worth nothing to the recipient. By giving away a core product, VMware would be devaluing the market that they’ve created.
VMware should realise that they own this market; it’s not like they need to win back huge chunks of market share by sacrificing their and their partners’ profits.
If ESX was given away to the masses, consulting opportunities would dry up, and VMware would find that the sales of the rest of their product line would also grind to a halt.
Why go out for Filet Mignon when you can have a burger at home?
In Australia, VMware has made huge numbers of ESX licenses available to Universities and Government bodies. So while it’s true that they can now claim that they have huge penetration into these markets, it’s also true to say that this has ruined two sources of revenue for their resellers.