Whelp, here we go again. If you haven’t heard the news, Broadcom has once again made sweeping changes at VMware—this time targeting VMUG and, specifically, VMUG Advantage. And if you’re a homelabber, self-hoster, or an IT professional like me, this is some disheartening stuff.

Big news dropped last week at VMware Explore Barcelona when Broadcom made a major announcement affecting the VMware User Group (VMUG) and their Advantage program. For context, I’ve been deeply involved with VMUG over the years—I even served as a VMUG leader out here in Portland. So, like many of you, I was saddened by the email that landed in my inbox on November 5th, spelling out the end of VMUG Advantage as we know it.

The Announcement from VMUG

In their email, VMUG informed current Advantage members that:

“Today, in Barcelona at VMware Explore, Broadcom announced a new program that gives Advantage members an exclusive path to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VVS personal use licenses.

This program will alter the current path to EVALExperience within VMUG Advantage. As an Advantage member, we want to ensure you have the details on this change.”

What This Means: As of November 30, 2024, the current EvalExperience licenses offered through VMUG Advantage will be phased out. This means that if you’re a VMUG Advantage member, no matter where you are in your subscription cycle, after November 30th, you will lose access to any software you were entitled to. Additionally, Broadcom is introducing a new pathway for obtaining VCF and VVS non-production, personal-use licenses via their VCP program, and VMUG will no longer facilitate access to the software.

What Broadcom Has Said Officially

In their announcement, Broadcom highlighted the following:

“In a new exclusive benefit to VMware User Group (VMUG) members, Broadcom will provide VMUG Advantage subscribers a 50% discount on VMware Certified Professional (VCP) and VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) certification exams. Upon successful completion of a VMware Cloud Foundation certification exam, VMUG Advantage members will have access to a free personal use VMware Cloud Foundation license for up to three years.”

Gee, thanks, Broadcom.

In short, the “Advantage” you now get from being a VMUG Advantage member is a discount on certification exams only. To access VMware software through this new program, you must already hold a VCP or VCAP certification.

The Conundrum for New Engineers

To access VMware’s VCF software, you need a VCP or VCAP certification, which requires you to have experience and access to VMware software. This poses an impossible barrier for newcomers wanting to enter the VMware ecosystem. Without access to VCF or similar software for practice and learning, how are aspiring engineers supposed to gain experience? The irony here is infuriating: a program that was once a gateway for new talent is now a closed-off fortress.

Why This Move Hurts VMware’s Community

For years, VMware has thrived because of its active community of homelabbers, IT professionals, and engineers, many of whom got started through VMUG and VMUG Advantage. Personally, I brought VMware into every organization I worked for because I could run, experiment with, and learn VMware on my own terms before introducing it as a production system. The freedom to explore the software was invaluable.

With Broadcom’s recent changes, new engineers now have no feasible way to gain experience in the VMware ecosystem outside of a production environment—if they’re lucky enough to get hired by a company using VMware at all.

A Message to VMware and Broadcom

To the VMware and Broadcom folks out there, I’d love an answer to this question: How do you expect to attract new talent when you’ve effectively walled off access to the tools they need to learn? Are they supposed to “read a book, buy discounted certs, and then take a test?” Really?

And to those at Broadcom: why alienate the very community that championed VMware for years? This community did the legwork of evangelizing VMware, myself included. But it seems that Broadcom’s philosophy is simple: if it’s free or affordable, it has to go. And it didn’t stop at the free ESXi licenses—VMUG Advantage members paying for yearly licensing wasn’t good enough, either.

A Heartfelt Goodbye to VMUG

For VMUG, this shift is a huge blow. I may have moved on from VMware, but I know the team at VMUG believes in the community they’ve built, and that Advantage revenue is crucial to their mission. I genuinely hope VMUG can find a way to survive in the face of these changes, even though they’re getting zero support from Broadcom.

Where Do We Go From Here?

It’s time to make some moves. Here’s what I’m doing about it, and what I’d recommend if you’re in a similar position:

• Transitioning Away from VMware in the Homelab
  I’ve moved my homelab to Proxmox, which has been great. There are excellent alternatives out there: Proxmox and XCP-ng are solid, Nutanix Community Edition is fantastic if you have the right hardware, and even Hyper-V can work in a pinch.
• Professionally, Start Planning Your Exit from VMware
  If you’re in a large organization, you may have to eat a 3-year contract to get your tech stack moved. Use that time wisely to explore other platforms. Whether open-source or closed-source, there are strong alternatives out there, and every dollar spent on VMware is a reward for Broadcom’s terrible behavior.
• Join New Communities
  There are communities around all these platforms, many of which welcome newcomers with open arms. Nutanix has an open user group for everyone, whether you’re running CE or enterprise-grade. Join Proxmox or XCP-ng groups online, connect on Discord, and attend events—there’s a whole world beyond VMware.

Final Thoughts

It’s disappointing to see Broadcom dismantling something that has empowered so many of us in the IT space. But change brings opportunity, and there are new and exciting communities ready to embrace us. So, if you’re still holding onto VMware at home, I encourage you to consider the options and plan your next steps. Let’s move forward together, find new platforms, and build up communities that actually value us.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to seeing where we go from here.