Pricing is being tweaked upwards where software is licensed on a per CPU basis. If the chip has more than 32 cores like, say, a 64 core AMD EPYC, then users will need to fork out for two CPU licences.
Both AMD and Intel will cheerfully sell punters chips with more than the requisite 32 cores, and utilising such chippery with the original per-CPU pricing was, in a very real way, a useful method of getting more bang for one’s buck from the software.
With Intel struggling to make enough of its high-end hardware to satisfy demand, AMD looked set to steal a march with the likes of the EPYC 7742. VMware’s pricing change will you make you think twice about the benefits of sticking a core-dense processor into a server with a view to keeping software costs down.Virtzilla claims “the change moves VMware closer to the current software industry standard model of core-based pricing” and indeed, the likes of Microsoft (PDF) and Oracle (PDF) both use core-based pricing these days, although even the most determined apologist would struggle to suggest the move is aimed at anything other than boosting the bottom line.
Naturally, observers have been less than impressed by the move.
Source: Virtualization juggernaut VMware hits the CPU turbo button for licensing costs • The Register
Robin Edgar
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