VMware! Bring back the VMTN Subscription (Please!)
Today I want to start a campaign within the VMware Community…
I would like to see VMware re-instate the “VMTN Subscription”. You might ask, what the hell is that? That would be fair enough because it was withdrawn many years ago, and never re-instated by VMware.
The VMTN Subscription (I found this link on Google which is still active posted in 2005) was similar to Microsoft MSDN or TechNet – where for relatively small yearly fee you could download the core enterprise software and run it for 1year. Right now there is whole legion of home-labbers out there that have to make do and mend with evaluations that expire after 60-days. Sadly, the VMTN Subscription program was cancelled in 2007 and never re-instated.
Now as former VMware Certified Instructor and vExpert – if I wanted NFR style licenses I can get to them. Although I would have to say throughout all my time working with VMware its been also been a struggle gaining access to software and licenses – as independent guy not affiliated to partner…. That’s mainly because an evaluation download doesn’t always give me access to ALL the software I need to do my kind of work. It’s often been a frustration, and I’ve often need to call upon my personal network to get hold of bits that seemed impossible to get through legitimate means. My concern is not so much for myself as I’m generally a well-connected dude – but for the many thousands of loyal VMware supports in their homelabs. VMware has one of the best user communities on the planet. I personally believe that without the “bottom up” support of thousands of enthusiasts who teach themselves VMware in their home labs, who then go on to recommend software to the customers, clients and businesses – VMware wouldn’t be as half as successful as it is without this legion of unpaid evangelist for their cause.
So, VMware. Bring back the VMTN Subscription or make it part of the VMUG Advantage package.
If you want to register your thoughts/views/opinions for this idea – add your +1 to this forum post here.
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November 4th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Couldn’t agree with you more Mike. It would be nice to have a full year as opposed to just the 60 day eval. It’s incredible how quickly 60 days pass when you have an eval of something! Thanks for bringing this up, I might run a post on my blog to keep building momentum on this case.
-Greg
November 4th, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Hit the nail on the head Mike. The 60-day eval sure does my head in, especially with the huge amount of products VMware have out there now. I’m a TechNet subscriber for this very reason.
November 5th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Between the certification programme forcing us to use overpriced training classess and removal of the VMTN subcription I was seriously annoyed by VMWare.
Hope they re-introduce it and also let people who work and implement their products certify in a more traditional manner.
November 6th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Yes, I’d really endorse this type of program. As a blogger, it would allow me to cover VMware products much more easily.
Further, I agree with Mike’s comments about getting NFR licenses through vExpert programs or simply asking for them. But that solution doesn’t scale.
Unfortunately, Microsoft is leading the way here with the TechNet, TechNet Plus and MSDN subscriptions.
I vote to revive the VMTN subscription!
November 7th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Totally agree, as a former VMTN subsciber I was very dissapointed when it ended.
November 10th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
If Microsoft can offer TechNet and MSDN for all their enterprise software, this shouldn’t be such a hard decision for VMware to make. Microsoft’s success is tied to all the IT pros & developers out there that use those subscriptions to test and learn about their enterprise software and then buy licenses when they put it into production. If VMware wants to take over the world of IT (not just virtualization) a VMTN-like subscription is what they must implement.
-David
November 11th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
<strong>The Campaign to Bring Back the VMTN Subscription…</strong>
I am not sure how other people have learned their craft and mastered the technology they support, but for me, the learning started after the books ended. I have learned so much more from breaking something and having to find the fix than I ever did fro…
November 14th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
+1
November 21st, 2011 at 6:40 am
Bring it back. I would like to build my own personal lab but this is one thing that is holding me back is proper licencing.
-Rich
November 24th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
I would also like to show my support for bringing back the VMTN Subscription. As a blogger / VMware enthusiast, I actually enjoy getting home from work where I administer/run a series of vSphere production deployments and working on my own personal projects, learning about VMware products, scripting, automating etc… 60 days just does not cut it for lab environments and it is a pain to have to work around that when you have limited time available to use a product.
November 30th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Absolutely. Access to tools allowing one to really learn, in depth, the product line is of primary important. Honestly it is why we moved our entire dev/test to ubuntu and kvm. Not perfect (by any means) and the management interface stinks but there is nothing in the “product” to get in the way or our learning how things work.