I totally missed this one until a few days ago, but VMware has released the ESXi Hypervisor free of charge. They obviously see the pending challenge from Microsoft, Xen and Virtualbox and are hoping to gain traction and mindshare in the community – but I have one piece of advice for VMware.
If you want to regain the "developer" mindshare – those evangelists that sponsor VMware in their corporations – then restore the VMTN Subscription.
VMTN was my affordable way in to VMware – and because of that and my persistence in my current workplace, VMware now has over 20 ESX Enterprise license sales.