Expired support: VMware users with perpetual licenses should remove updates

Broadcom has sent VMware customers with unlimited usage licenses a cease and desist letter after their support contracts expired. In the letter, the US company asked its customers to immediately uninstall all software releases, updates and patches that have been released since the end of the contract. This was reported by the technology magazine Ars Technica. Broadcom points out that the right to updates ends with the end of the support period. Broadcom has not yet responded to an inquiry from the iX editorial team.

Broadcom threatens with claims for damages

Following the changes to VMware's licensing model as a result of the takeover by Broadcom, customers can continue to use their unlimited software licenses. However, support contracts can only be extended if this has been agreed in advance. According to the report, Broadcom points out in the letter signed by Managing Director Mike Brown that the continued use of new versions and updates constitutes an infringement of the company's intellectual property rights. Broadcom reserves the right to claim damages.

Broadcom also points out that, according to the license agreement, customers must report on VMware usage even after the end of the contract. If customers do not comply with this, this is a breach of the agreement, which gives Broadcom the right to audit the customer and could result in further legal action. However, Dean Colpitts, CTO of the Canadian IT service provider Members IT Group, explains to Ars Technica that because customers prepare this report themselves, it is not possible for Broadcom to trace untrue information.

VMware changers also receive mail from Broadcom

VMware customers also report that they have received a cease and desist letter, even though they have not received any updates from Broadcom since their support contract expired. Other customers have also received a letter after switching to a VMware alternative such as Proxmox. Following Broadcom's recent inconsistent decisions regarding the VMware licensing model, the company once again caused uncertainty among its customers by apparently contacting numerous users after their support contracts had expired without any concrete evidence.

Since the acquisition of VMware and the changes to the licensing model, Broadcom has lost numerous customers, including the Austrian cloud provider Anexia. The US company also cut around 20,000 jobs at VMware and closed several sites. VMware also took the US division and several Siemens subsidiaries to court. In a complaint filed with the District Court in Delaware, VMware accused the industrial group of using software without valid licenses.

(sfe)