Broadcom Cuts Support for Simplified Chinese Among Other Languages in VMware EXSi

Broadcom announced at the end of June that the virtualization software VMware EXSi 8.0 Update 3 release would see a reduction in the number of supported localization languages, with future support limited to French, Japanese, and Spanish.

VMware EXSi is primarily offered in English, and previously supported additional languages including Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Italian, German, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese. These languages have now been phased out.

According to Broadcom's support documentation, future versions of VMware EXSi's user interface, help documentation, and customer support will only be available in English, French, Japanese, and Spanish, discontinuing support for other languages.

This decision poses several challenges for VMware EXSi users:

First, the user interface will no longer support localized languages, meaning companies that use Simplified Chinese, for example, will have to switch to English. While current language packs can still be used, they will not be updated for new features. If a new feature is added, its settings and descriptions will be displayed in English, even if a Simplified Chinese language pack is enabled.

Second, the availability of support documentation will be limited. VMware previously offered multilingual support documentation and customer service. Now, users will have to rely on translation tools like Google Translate to understand documents available only in English or the other supported languages.

Third, and perhaps most crucially, the change affects customer support. Enterprises encountering issues will have to submit tickets in English or another supported language, potentially creating communication barriers.

Although translation software can mitigate these issues, the lack of localized language support is inconvenient. It's unclear why Broadcom, following its acquisition of VMware, decided to make these changes, as localization generally enhances a software product's competitiveness.

Broadcom has stated that the discontinuation of localized language support will begin with the next major release, which could be VMware EXSi version 8.1 or possibly starting with VMware EXSi 8.0 Update 4.

Eliminating localized support teams may help Broadcom save on salary costs, but it's uncertain whether this move will prompt businesses to switch to other virtualization software, such as PVE.

Furthermore, Broadcom has previously announced that customer support would be provided by resellers, not VMware's engineering team, which may lead to a decline in the quality of support available to enterprise customers.