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jaskerr 4 hours ago [-]
Never thought I'd be able to say this, but Broadcom has out-CA'd Computer Associates.
For those not familiar with CA, their model was to buy up failed enterprise software companies and milk the s@*t out of the licensing and support contracts, while spending next-to-nothing on development. Broadcom follows much the same model with steroids and protein powder.
CA failed, only after years of profitable rent-seeking. The same may happen to Broadcom, but it will take years. In the meantime the companies who depend on the software they control will pay a heavy price.
erikerikson 47 minutes ago [-]
CA was horrible. I worked there but your claims are a little too strong. They bought up and coming products within rising sectors, "over paying" knowing they could cash in. They then introduced those products into their large portfolio of large enterprise clients (who trusted them deeply) giving the purchased products increased market share and real associated profits. They were the trusted technical friend for non technical companies. They did after initial investment then largely and entirely killing innovation on and investment in the products. It was the place that products went to die.
[edit: perhaps it got darker and more cynical after I left. I wouldn't be terribly surprised. I left in 2013, post Enron style accounting fraud, pre sale to Broadcom]
gsky 30 minutes ago [-]
Facebook and good should be at the top of that list for selling scams to users
insaneirish 3 hours ago [-]
Feel like it's burying the lede a bit to not mention that Broadcom acquired Computer Associates and said "hold my beer".
Alien1Being 31 minutes ago [-]
"In 2018, Computer Associates was acquired by Broadcom Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer, for nearly $19 billion."
The behaviour was acquired too ....
parasubvert 7 hours ago [-]
Negotiating tactic. Never really makes it to court.
bragr 5 hours ago [-]
I do suspect they'll settle but I doubt it will result in a new contract. They've already made significant investments migrating off VMWare and none of those will snap back with a new contract. Tesco was also cut off from updates and support, and so had to purchase 3rd party support, so they have real damages.
henriquez 3 hours ago [-]
[dead]
vcdx69420 3 hours ago [-]
Making on premise hosting more costly changes the calculus making cloud migrations easier to sell to the board. Broadcom's revenue is literally a slice of hyperscaler capex and that capex is enormous. Combined AI infrastructure spending across the major players runs well past $600 billion annually. This aligns with the federal government's need to have data custody and supports whatever the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) is called now. They are geniuses.
drchaim 7 hours ago [-]
Having VMware in 2026 is a sign of low tech.
wmf 32 minutes ago [-]
Supermarkets probably should use boring tech. They aren't tech companies.
parasubvert 7 hours ago [-]
Eh, it's still the least hassle at scale for your own data centers and VCF 9 isn't exactly low tech - it does things no one else really can do to the same level of quality (DRS, HCX, NSX, VSAN all come to mind) , the question is, is it worth the money? Unless you're over 10,000 VMs, probably not.
OpenShift is okay but has quirks unless you have a major Kubernetes staff; Proxmox is good for most but I wouldn't use at massive scale. Azure Stack/ Hyper-V can work but has its own quirks.
hdgvhicv 6 hours ago [-]
Compared to something like proxmox? Sure.
It takes a long time to change corporate mindset.
alphabetag675 6 hours ago [-]
Compared to something like openstack.
system2 3 hours ago [-]
Other than proxmox, what alternative do you have for "high tech"?
UqWBcuFx6NV4r 6 hours ago [-]
Comments like this are a sign of someone living in a bubble.
ChrisArchitect 3 hours ago [-]
(2025) OP.
The current report and discussion this week:
Tesco moving 40k server workloads off VMware amid Broadcom's abusive conduct
VMware really damaged their business longterm, as anyone that can transition off, is doing so, and anyone else is planning on it.
dreamcompiler 6 hours ago [-]
Broadcom doesn't care. They just want to milk VMware for all it's worth to goose their short-term profits.
wolvoleo 5 hours ago [-]
Yeah this was clearly willingly and knowingly done.
throwaway85825 5 hours ago [-]
They did the same rugpull to PLX customers. This is Broadcoms business model. Never ever do business with Broadcom.
4 hours ago [-]
dreamcompiler 3 hours ago [-]
Difficult for me because I really like Raspberry Pis.
lokar 1 hours ago [-]
They explained it to their investors when they announced the purchase
diego_moita 6 hours ago [-]
They're not the only ones pissed off with VMWare [1].
What I don't understand is what prevents them to shop around for alternatives. What is VMWare's very good moat that prevents the competition from invading their castle?
2. Tesco had a good deal they paid for ahead of time, with the full support cycle detailed in the contract that Broadcom is refusing to honor.
3. Broadcom is arguing that since Tesco is migrating off, they can't sue for damages. Tesco would probably counter argue that the migration is due to Broadcom not honoring the original contract.
wolvoleo 5 hours ago [-]
Because there's no business potential.
20 years ago anyone and everyone had datacenters full of VMware. Now most of it is stuff that a company hasn't bothered to move to cloud yet. There's a few things it's still the best choice for but those are niche things. Like stuff that absolutely needs to be self hosted for privacy or security. The time of VMware being the default is long gone.
Moving from a mainstream to a niche product means a market that's shrinking. No growth potential. No potential for new competitors to start up. Proxmox is good but it's not exactly enterprise.
This is why Broadcom bought it and sucks the most value out of it before it completely disappears.
bigstrat2003 5 hours ago [-]
> There's a few things it's still the best choice for but those are niche things.
That just isn't true. The reality is that being in the cloud is not beneficial for most businesses. They do it because it's trendy, not because it's the best solution. In recent years we've seen more and more recognition of that fact, and it has driven people to host stuff on prem.
denkmoon 6 hours ago [-]
Big ships turn slowly is all. It’s no easy feat to move away from something like that.
dark-star 6 hours ago [-]
because there are no real alternatives. Everything that could be considered an alternative has drawbacks or things that are missing. Proxmox comes close but doesn't offer proper enterprise support contracts, so you'd be stuck with a 3rd party.
Then there's training. you can't easily switch your admins and service desk techs to a different product. That alone takes months, of not years, and costs a lot. Rewrite all processes, etc.
Then there's 3rd party integration. Since VMware was basically the "default", most 3rd party products offered turnkey integration into VMware, and VMware only. Think backup applications or security etc. You don't switch backup vendors easily (for the same reasons - training, features, ...) and if you do consider it, it adds to the cost
This is why, for many companies that don't have 50-100 people or more in their IT department, it's more expensive to switch away from VMware so they grudgingly pay, while trying to move as much workload away from it as possible.
Would you say the same thing if Volvo Trucks or whoever Tesco relies on for their fleet suddenly changed their support contract? Some hard dependencies are always unavoidable.
It is good to be prepared and make sure you have the flexibility to move when possible, but if you've done multi-cloud work before then you know that it requires infrastructure and work of its own that won't ever pay off unless you actually migrate.
0cf8612b2e1e 6 hours ago [-]
There is always some dependency which would be devastating to lose. Maybe it is VMWare, maybe it is your Oracle database, could be your Visa payment processor. Sometimes you have to accept the risk and move on without owning a copper mine so as to smelt chips.
For those not familiar with CA, their model was to buy up failed enterprise software companies and milk the s@*t out of the licensing and support contracts, while spending next-to-nothing on development. Broadcom follows much the same model with steroids and protein powder.
CA failed, only after years of profitable rent-seeking. The same may happen to Broadcom, but it will take years. In the meantime the companies who depend on the software they control will pay a heavy price.
[edit: perhaps it got darker and more cynical after I left. I wouldn't be terribly surprised. I left in 2013, post Enron style accounting fraud, pre sale to Broadcom]
The behaviour was acquired too ....
OpenShift is okay but has quirks unless you have a major Kubernetes staff; Proxmox is good for most but I wouldn't use at massive scale. Azure Stack/ Hyper-V can work but has its own quirks.
It takes a long time to change corporate mindset.
The current report and discussion this week:
Tesco moving 40k server workloads off VMware amid Broadcom's abusive conduct
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576838
What I don't understand is what prevents them to shop around for alternatives. What is VMWare's very good moat that prevents the competition from invading their castle?
https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/03/24/half-of-vmwa...
2. Tesco had a good deal they paid for ahead of time, with the full support cycle detailed in the contract that Broadcom is refusing to honor.
3. Broadcom is arguing that since Tesco is migrating off, they can't sue for damages. Tesco would probably counter argue that the migration is due to Broadcom not honoring the original contract.
20 years ago anyone and everyone had datacenters full of VMware. Now most of it is stuff that a company hasn't bothered to move to cloud yet. There's a few things it's still the best choice for but those are niche things. Like stuff that absolutely needs to be self hosted for privacy or security. The time of VMware being the default is long gone.
Moving from a mainstream to a niche product means a market that's shrinking. No growth potential. No potential for new competitors to start up. Proxmox is good but it's not exactly enterprise.
This is why Broadcom bought it and sucks the most value out of it before it completely disappears.
That just isn't true. The reality is that being in the cloud is not beneficial for most businesses. They do it because it's trendy, not because it's the best solution. In recent years we've seen more and more recognition of that fact, and it has driven people to host stuff on prem.
Then there's training. you can't easily switch your admins and service desk techs to a different product. That alone takes months, of not years, and costs a lot. Rewrite all processes, etc.
Then there's 3rd party integration. Since VMware was basically the "default", most 3rd party products offered turnkey integration into VMware, and VMware only. Think backup applications or security etc. You don't switch backup vendors easily (for the same reasons - training, features, ...) and if you do consider it, it adds to the cost
This is why, for many companies that don't have 50-100 people or more in their IT department, it's more expensive to switch away from VMware so they grudgingly pay, while trying to move as much workload away from it as possible.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576838
It is good to be prepared and make sure you have the flexibility to move when possible, but if you've done multi-cloud work before then you know that it requires infrastructure and work of its own that won't ever pay off unless you actually migrate.