Now, we do open source what we can. Parts of VMware Tools (the mouse and video drivers for Linux, namely) are open sourced, and exist in the xorg tree. Parts of our UI (the more interesting parts, such as some of our special custom widgets) are open source – see libview.

If you’re a big business with an interest in developing additions to VMware, you can join our Community Source program.

But open sourcing it all? If we do that, there probably wouldn’t be a VMware in another year. Is that really worth it?

I have been attempting to find the answers to the following questions with little success and figured the blogosphere could point me in the right direction…

It should be noted that despite all of the success that VMWare has had, not every initiative has been an overwelming success. For instance, I had huge hopes that VMWare Ace would usher in a new era of client application deployment, and perhaps it still will, but so far it seems that industry reaction has been muted at best. I guess what has shocked me about this move is that I thought that if VMWare was going to tinker with their business model it would be in the area of VMWare Ace rather than the server side where they seem to have had well recognized success. I also I would have believed that the margin on GSX would have been substantial enough for it not be considered “throw away” revenue. Perhaps I am wrong.

As far as the commoditization of virtualization technology is concerned, I agree that the entire concept is just too powerful and useful for not to become deeply integrated into all forms of microcomputing hardware and software and from multiple vendors. However, I think we are many years away from any of VMWare’s competitors shipping a viable product that performs anywhere close to VMWare. And I would like to believe that VMWare will not be standing still as their competitors continue to improve.

Oh well, I will stop my hand-wringing and simply enjoy the benefits of VMWare Server.

VMware has been doubling its revenue every year for the last 8 years. It shows that the management of the company is capable and has a good visibility of where the market is going. The market has been moving in the last 8 years, and VMware has adapted to follow the market: Windows on Linux back then, then Disaster Recovery, then Server Consolidation, and now Virtual Data Center.

A few years ago, the management of the company has realized that the hypervisor would eventually be commoditized (we are seeing the beginning of this commodization right now), and they changed the business model of the company to make sure that the revenue stream of the company would not depend on selling the hypervisor anymore, but rather would depend on higher margin products such as VMware ESX Server and Professional Services (classes, support, …). Now that this business transition is over, the management of the company has decided that it gets more value (advertisement value) by giving its hypervisor for free, rather than selling it for a charge (money value).

Sparrow (VMware financial survival): VMware is now part of EMC, a public company. This means that anybody, including you, can look at VMware’s financial statements to convince yourself that making VMware Server free is not going to kill VMware.