[mamonster]

I mean, VMWare customers were warned about this ever since the deal got announced. This is literally the Broadcom strategy for the last decade at least: Buy vendor with lockin, cut non-core features, raise prices and squeeze the customers who are in too deep.

Broadcom goes into these deals knowing it will hemorrhage a lot of customers and they don't care, they know they can make it up on those who are forced to stay. They don't care about reputation at all.

[michaelt]

Customers were all expecting to get milked, sure. But the milking process usually tries not to kill the cow.

Usually that means prices increasing by ~10% every year, so that it's never quite worth it to switch to an alternative system.

[mamonster]

Sounds like customers were not familiar with how Mr Tan plays ball, he's been doing this forever. He isn't trying to kill the cow, he will famish the cow to the point where the cow will be alive enough for him to milk his required rate of return and not an ounce more. Its a risky strategy, but Tan is loved by Mr Market so he gets the benefit of the doubt.

[InsomniacL]

"The Answer is simple: No" Broadcom CEO Hock Tan - Nov 2022 - addressing reports of vmware price rises

"[Broadcom's methodology] was not based on taking existing products and raising their prices" Broadcom CEO Hock Tan Oct 26th 2022