VMware giving away Workstation Pro, Fusion Pro free for personal use
VMware has made another small but notable post-merger concession to users: the Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro desktop hypervisor products will now be free for personal use.
The cloud and virtualization biz, now a Broadcom subsidiary, has announced that its Pro apps will be available under two license models: a "Free Personal Use" or a "Paid Commercial Use" subscription for organizations.
Workstation Pro is available for PC users running Windows or Linux, while Fusion Pro is available for Mac systems with either Intel CPUs or Apple's own processors.
The two products allow users to create a virtual machine on their local computer for the purpose of running a different operating system or creating a sandbox in which to run certain software.
In an upcoming post announcing the latest move, VMware will note the special role that its desktop hypervisor products play in familiarizing users with its technology.
"For many in our community, Workstation and Fusion are the first VMware products that they've ever used, and it's an important tool for understanding virtualization as well as the fundamentals of vSphere," the company says, adding that they are widely used for development and testing of apps.
