Even though VMware Fusion (for Mac) is free* and very good, Broadcom is pushing me away to Parallels for silly reasons.

The reason: No matter how I try, even as a registered customer, I can't find a way to download current versions.

When I run VMware Fusion it tells me there's a new version, with bug fixes, support for newer macOS, etc. Would I like to download it? (Months ago it said the URL to check for a new version was broken.). Sure, I click, update please. It takes me to a Broadcom page where I'm supposed to sign in or register, give it my personal and work details, then I can download the new version.

I login because I already have an account. In my account, I can see the older versions of VMware Fusion, including the one I'm already running, but the later two versions aren't showing. Even the minor-version increment from the one I'm using isn't showing. I click around until I find where current ones should be, it shows me files in a table. I click the file and it tells me: Not yet, the account is awaiting verification. Come back in a few days.

It's been stuck like that for months.

But wait! I used this account to get VMWare Fusion a year ago. It still lets me download the version I'm using. The account was already verified! Why does it require new account verification just to get a slightly different, minor-version increment with bug fixes of a free product?

Last time I went through this, I ended up using Homebrew. I had a legit Broadcome/VMware account, had signed the agreement to download the update, but Broadcom's site didn't work. So I was delighted to find it in brew, with vastly better packaging than Broadcom's. Unfortunately the brew package is now disabled.

Before that, I had to sign up with Broadcom a second time, because the first account appeared to lose its access to VMware Fusion. I don't know why. Before that, I had to sign up the first time with Broadcom, even though I already had a VMware account as a paying customer of VMware Fusion.

It's been a great product, which I used to pay for and would again. I've used it for over 10 years. It's free now, and still a great product.

Yet I'm looking at switching to Parallels just because Fusion's "free" download process is too broken to use.

I can't imagine Broadcom is making any money from blocking downloads of the supposedly free product. It was their decision to make it free! It must be disheartening to be a developer on VMware Fusion if you know this is going on.

The worst part about the convoluted download process is that it seems someone have actively been making it more difficult since the first iteration, and I can't for the life of me understand why. Is it being done by someone who hates Broadcom? Or perhaps struggle with mental illness? Or is it due to a mix of micro management and extreme incompetence? I can't remember seeing something this bad since the horror shows people managed to create using stuff like Flash and Silverlight.