Friday, February 24, 2006

Free VMWare server to expire in July?

Maybe it's not a typical article for a MySQL blog, but since VMWare might be an interesting product for people who do testings on different platforms, I feel that it's not completely wrong here.

Today I've installed the new free (like beer) VMWare server for Linux. Installation worked fine, but as I looked into the "About VMWare" dialog, I found a line that the license expires 13th July 2006.

Is there a time limitation in the free VMWare server?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, VMware betas always expire. We do this to ensure that people upgrade to the final general release.

VMware Server will remain free after its beta period is over, but you will be able to buy a support contract if you desire.

Regards,
John

Giuseppe Maxia said...

From my experience with VMware workstation, there is a limitation if you install a beta version. In that case, your software expires on the given date, and you have to get a fresher one.
If you installed the beta version, you should get the newer release before the expiration day.
Usually, the stable version does not expire.
Ciao
Giuseppe

Markus Popp said...

It's good to know that the final version doesn't expire :-) - Thank you, guys!

Anonymous said...

Will the beta expire *after* the final release will become available?
Or will there be a gap between those versions?

Anonymous said...

I have uninstalled the previous version and installed the latest Beta. I allowed the uninstall process to remove current licensing. The new version does not take me to a place where I can get a newer license (using Help -> Enter Serial Number -> Get Serial Number); instead it just takes me through the downloading process again. I attempted to register with a new ID and I still get no license, or a link to a new license. Of course entering the old license returns me to a 7/13/2006 expiration date. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Markus Popp said...

I'm afraid I'm about to face the same problem. Also my license expires on July, 13th and I haven't managed to get a new Serial Number.

Anonymous said...

I now have until 7 August 2006. I found a link on the VMWare site to review my account. It gave me an entirely different license key than the one given me when I re-registered. I went to http://www.vmware.com/vmwarestore/newstore/account.jsp and hit the "Serial Number History" link. Hope this buys you good folks a bit more time.

Cheers!