Yes. A perpetual license just means no fixed end date, not that it’s irrevocable or interminable.
You can probably get away with continuing to use ESXi free licenses even commercially, you just won’t have support. And at home, nothing is going to stop existing versions from working.
It doesn’t actually say it’s perpetual. It only says “The term of this EULA begins on Delivery of the Software and continues until this EULA is terminated in accordance with this Section 9”, but that section only covers termination for cause or insolvency, there is no provision for termination at VMware’s discretion. So, while I’m not a lawyer, it definitely sounds like you can continue using ESXi free.
But that one has even less language about license term and termination. Although it does define “perpetual license” as “a license to the Software with a perpetual term”, again not irrevocable or interminable.
VMware’s support was excruciating anyway. As a VCP, I learned to just figure it out on my own or work around it, they never fixed a single problem or bug I encountered.
Yes. A perpetual license just means no fixed end date, not that it’s irrevocable or interminable.
You can probably get away with continuing to use ESXi free licenses even commercially, you just won’t have support. And at home, nothing is going to stop existing versions from working.
Incidentally, assuming I found the right license agreement: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/downloads/eula/universal_eula.pdf
It doesn’t actually say it’s perpetual. It only says “The term of this EULA begins on Delivery of the Software and continues until this EULA is terminated in accordance with this Section 9”, but that section only covers termination for cause or insolvency, there is no provision for termination at VMware’s discretion. So, while I’m not a lawyer, it definitely sounds like you can continue using ESXi free.
Actually, reading further, I think the applicable license is this one: https://www.vmware.com/vmware-general-terms.html
But that one has even less language about license term and termination. Although it does define “perpetual license” as “a license to the Software with a perpetual term”, again not irrevocable or interminable.
VMware’s support was excruciating anyway. As a VCP, I learned to just figure it out on my own or work around it, they never fixed a single problem or bug I encountered.