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Supermarket giant Tesco sues VMware for breach of contract (2025)
- bellowsgulch 4mo ago[flagged]
- 0cf8612b2e1e 4mo agoThere is always some dependency which would be devastating to lose. Maybe it is VMWare, maybe it is your Oracle database, could be your Visa payment processor. Sometimes you have to accept the risk and move on without owning a copper mine so as to smelt chips.
- solid_fuel 4mo agoWould you say the same thing if Volvo Trucks or whoever Tesco relies on for their fleet suddenly changed their support contract? Some hard dependencies are always unavoidable. It is good to be prepared and make sure you have the flexibility to move when possible, but if you've done multi-cloud work before then you know that it requires infrastructure and work of its own that won't ever pay off unless you actually migrate.
- drchaim 4mo agoHaving VMware in 2026 is a sign of low tech.
- parasubvert 4mo agoEh, it's still the least hassle at scale for your own data centers and VCF 9 isn't exactly low tech - it does things no one else really can do to the same level of quality (DRS, HCX, NSX, VSAN all come to mind) , the question is, is it worth the money? Unless you're over 10,000 VMs, probably not. OpenShift is okay but has quirks unless you have a major Kubernetes staff; Proxmox is good for most but I wouldn't use at massive scale. Azure Stack/ Hyper-V can work but has its own quirks.
- hdgvhicv 4mo agoCompared to something like proxmox? Sure. It takes a long time to change corporate mindset.
- alphabetag675 4mo agoCompared to something like openstack.
- UqWBcuFx6NV4r 4mo agoComments like this are a sign of someone living in a bubble.
- system2 4mo agoOther than proxmox, what alternative do you have for "high tech"?
- wmf 4mo agoSupermarkets probably should use boring tech. They aren't tech companies.
- gib444 4mo agoI agree about boring tech. They're not a tech company but they're not low or anti tech though Tesco worked closely with a data startup to create the Clubcard and that startup is now a big company owned by Tesco (Dunnhumby, £350m, 2,000 employees) They were the first supermarket to do online grocery delivery They had Nokia apps for groceries on 2009, iPhone in 2010 Huge supply chain automation Tesco Labs etc
- slater 4mo agodupe https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576838 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576838
- parasubvert 4mo agoNegotiating tactic. Never really makes it to court.
- bragr 4mo agoI do suspect they'll settle but I doubt it will result in a new contract. They've already made significant investments migrating off VMWare and none of those will snap back with a new contract. Tesco was also cut off from updates and support, and so had to purchase 3rd party support, so they have real damages.
- henriquez 4mo ago[dead]
- OrvalWintermute 4mo agoVMware really damaged their business longterm, as anyone that can transition off, is doing so, and anyone else is planning on it.
- dreamcompiler 4mo agoBroadcom doesn't care. They just want to milk VMware for all it's worth to goose their short-term profits.
- wolvoleo 4mo agoYeah this was clearly willingly and knowingly done.
- throwaway85825 4mo agoThey did the same rugpull to PLX customers. This is Broadcoms business model. Never ever do business with Broadcom.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- dreamcompiler 4mo agoDifficult for me because I really like Raspberry Pis.
- wolvoleo 4mo agoYou're not doing business with broadcom there. Though most people working at the raspberry foundation are broadcom people. Most from the time before broadcom turned full evil though.
- lokar 4mo agoThey explained it to their investors when they announced the purchase
- diego_moita 4mo agoThey're not the only ones pissed off with VMWare [1]. What I don't understand is what prevents them to shop around for alternatives. What is VMWare's very good moat that prevents the competition from invading their castle? https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/03/24/half-of-vmware-users-plan-to-reduce-usage-by-2028/5229588 https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/03/24/half-of-vmwa...
- NewJazz 4mo ago1. Tesco is migrating off 2. Tesco had a good deal they paid for ahead of time, with the full support cycle detailed in the contract that Broadcom is refusing to honor. 3. Broadcom is arguing that since Tesco is migrating off, they can't sue for damages. Tesco would probably counter argue that the migration is due to Broadcom not honoring the original contract.
- denkmoon 4mo agoBig ships turn slowly is all. It’s no easy feat to move away from something like that.
- dark-star 4mo agobecause there are no real alternatives. Everything that could be considered an alternative has drawbacks or things that are missing. Proxmox comes close but doesn't offer proper enterprise support contracts, so you'd be stuck with a 3rd party. Then there's training. you can't easily switch your admins and service desk techs to a different product. That alone takes months, of not years, and costs a lot. Rewrite all processes, etc. Then there's 3rd party integration. Since VMware was basically the "default", most 3rd party products offered turnkey integration into VMware, and VMware only. Think backup applications or security etc. You don't switch backup vendors easily (for the same reasons - training, features, ...) and if you do consider it, it adds to the cost This is why, for many companies that don't have 50-100 people or more in their IT department, it's more expensive to switch away from VMware so they grudgingly pay, while trying to move as much workload away from it as possible.
- DarkUranium 4mo ago
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- jaskerr 4mo agoNever thought I'd be able to say this, but Broadcom has out-CA'd Computer Associates. For those not familiar with CA, their model was to buy up failed enterprise software companies and milk the s@*t out of the licensing and support contracts, while spending next-to-nothing on development. Broadcom follows much the same model with steroids and protein powder. CA failed, only after years of profitable rent-seeking. The same may happen to Broadcom, but it will take years. In the meantime the companies who depend on the software they control will pay a heavy price.
- insaneirish 4mo agoFeel like it's burying the lede a bit to not mention that Broadcom acquired Computer Associates and said "hold my beer".
- erikerikson 4mo agoCA was horrible. I worked there but your claims are a little too strong. They bought up and coming products within rising sectors, "over paying" knowing they could cash in. They then introduced those products into their large portfolio of large enterprise clients (who trusted them deeply) giving the purchased products increased market share and real associated profits. They were the trusted technical friend for non technical companies. They did after initial investment then largely and entirely killing innovation on and investment in the products. It was the place that products went to die. [edit: perhaps it got darker and more cynical after I left. I wouldn't be terribly surprised. I left in 2013, post Enron style accounting fraud, pre sale to Broadcom]
- jaskerr 4mo agoPoint taken. It's not what I remember of CA in the 90's, when I was an analyst at a consulting firm. They may have changed strategy in the later aughts. Or, I could be completely wrong. As you say, it was the place where products went to die.
- gsky 4mo agoFacebook and good should be at the top of that list for selling scams to users
- vcdx69420 4mo agoMaking on premise hosting more costly changes the calculus making cloud migrations easier to sell to the board. Broadcom's revenue is literally a slice of hyperscaler capex and that capex is enormous. Combined AI infrastructure spending across the major players runs well past $600 billion annually. This aligns with the federal government's need to have data custody and supports whatever the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) is called now. They are geniuses.
- Symbiote 4mo agoA supermarket with over 3000 (5000 depending where I search) stores probably doesn't want everything in the cloud. They will want every shop to be at least mostly-capable of operating without an internet connection.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- ChrisArchitect 4mo ago(2025) OP. The current report and discussion this week: Tesco moving 40k server workloads off VMware amid Broadcom's abusive conduct https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576838 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576838
- Alien1Being 4mo ago"In 2018, Computer Associates was acquired by Broadcom Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer, for nearly $19 billion." The behaviour was acquired too ....