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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs. VMware Workstation Player

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ARed Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution mainly used in commercial data centers.N/A

    VMware Workstation Player

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/AVMware Workstation 17 Player is a platform for running a single virtual machine on a Windows or Linux PC to deliver managed corporate desktops. Organizations can use Workstation Player to deliver managed corporate desktops, while students and educators use it for learning and training.N/A
    Pricing
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)VMware Workstation Player
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)VMware Workstation Player
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)VMware Workstation Player
    Considered Both Products
    Red Hat
    No answer on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    295 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    253 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    289 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    188 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    253 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)VMware Workstation Player
    Operating System
    Comparison of Operating System features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and VMware Workstation Player
    Feature
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    8.4
    78 Ratings
    4% below category average
    VMware Workstation Player
    -
    Ratings
    File Management8.073 Ratings00 Ratings
    Software Application Management8.075 Ratings00 Ratings
    System Update Frequency8.276 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating System Security9.378 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)VMware Workstation Player
    Small Businesses
    CentOS Linux
    Score8.9 out of 10
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM AIX
    Score9.4 out of 10
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Ubuntu
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Amazon WorkSpaces
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)VMware Workstation Player
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (302 ratings)
    6.9
    (9 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (194 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.2
    (9 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)VMware Workstation Player
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Red Hat
    There's a lot of things that can and can't be discussed. But as I mentioned earlier, cloud computing and on-prem, and very much like in the cloud, having a standard image ISO, deploying that, the configurations with Ansible or packages installed via Ansible, instead of just a Kickstart script, you have a set of scripts that run in a pipeline that deploy Red Hat. So I'd say the environments, every time I've used Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a computing solution has been, like I mentioned, reusable, scalable, positive. And I don't think I've ever found any situations where I wish I were using something other than Red Hat Enterprise Linux, because the support is not there for anything else as much as it is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware will work great for the following test scenarios:
    • Testing windows updates on a system
    • Testing a new software or a new software version
    • Creating a sandbox to test options/features of an OS
    • Creating different VM to test a software on different OS without the need to have physical machines for all of them
    You can also use it as a "player" only where you have that static VM that you run from time to time as with my use for SAS University. Whenever you need to use the software, you simply start that VM.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Red Hat
    • Virtualization, like the operating system level task. I see this product is very good and it blends very well with the middleware components like all the JBoss and other things. And other than that, either you install it or a virtual machine or physical servers, it works seamlessly anywhere. And if you want to go further, like Red Hat OpenShift or those things also work very nice with it.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    • VMware Player is easy to use.
    • VMware Player supports a wide variety operating systems.
    • Unity mode makes it easy for the end user to utilize needed legacy applications while maintaining their familiar Host OS desktop. It's seamless to the point where the end user doesn't know they're running applications from a VM.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Red Hat
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs better built-in developer-centric tooling.
    • The desktop experience is too barebones, which makes it less attractive for developer workstations.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs to be integrated and available in GItHub Actions as a supported platform so code developed on GitHub can be tested and qualified there.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    • Would be nice to use more VMs at once, but this is basically trial software, so it's hard to fault them.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Red Hat
    We find RHEL to be a superior OS with stable operations and long life. It is also easier to use and fix then most other OS's.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    I give a rating of 8 because VMware Player has its use cases, for example it requires the host OS to be logged in, and the VMware Player application to be opened and the Guest VM started. Only one VM can run at a time. I'd give a 9/10 to VMware Workstation because you can run shared VMs at startup without logging in or starting the workstation application. and i'd give ESX a 10/10 because ESX is the leader in enterprise visualization.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Red Hat
    It's pretty intuitive and easy to use. Everything is adjustable; everything is customizable through a set of yaml's and everything can be undone and re-done. Doing items such a modification and restarting the single app doesnt take down the whole operating system like one of the more popular GUI based operating systems. We can work on live production systems without breaking into a sweat.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    Great product. Its user-friendly GUI and overall performance are really the biggest strength of this tool. The reason why I don't give a higher note is because of the price. Although it's decent (starting at around $200 for a license), there is a good free alternative in VirtualBox. Not everyone values friendly GUI as something worth paying for. For people that are more tech-savvy, I would recommend looking into VirtualBox as they might actually like the model better (with downloadable add-ons and packages).
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Red Hat
    Product support and regular patches.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Red Hat
    As with any OS enhanced testing will need to be done prior to application integration.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    Integration isn't really relevant here but I see this question more as an OS compatibility for the VM. They state that they support over 200 different OS versions. I honestly have never tried anything else other than Ubuntu and Windows myself but nonetheless, this is impressive. I have not hit any limitation in my use of this software in terms of limitation or conflicts with other software.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Red Hat
    Red Hat support has really come a long way in the last 10 years, The general support is great, and the specialized product support teams are extremely knowledgeable about their specific products. Response time is good and you never need to escalate.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware support is very knowledgeable on their products, eveything from AirWatch to ESX clusters. VMware is easy to contact, they stay in touch and see the issue through to the end and a final resolution. They keep you up to date on your issue status and don't leave you waiting for answers.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Red Hat
    Don't be afraid of it, its easy to install and configure for the tasks needed.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    Installing the application was easily completed on the twenty computers that needed VMware Player. Once those 20 users were configured we copied our virtual machine template to the 20 users and turned on their newly provisioned virtual machines. We then configured unity mode so the user could easily work from within the virtual machine from their host desktop.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Red Hat
    Windows Server can take a long time to patch, waiting for the patch to install, then waiting to apply, after the OS is rebooted it can also take additional time to apply the update. Often times Windows Server patches can fail, leading to long troubleshooting times and application outages. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Patching is extremely quick, I've honestly not seen a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) update fail to install in many years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) patching.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    Both free, VMware supports USB 3.0 while VirtualBox does not. VMware supports nested hardware-assisted virtualization while VirtualBox does not.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Red Hat
    Operational ease of use backed by support
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Red Hat
    • It has done wonders for my career because I come from a Linux background, HPUX, Solaris and AIX. So made this transition to Linux 20 years ago. So it has really put my career at the forefront of what we do in the company. We're still primarily a window shop, but with Red Hat and what they're doing with the Kubernetes integration with OpenShift, with the East Satellite Management, the Ansible stuff, all based on Red Hat. It's taken off at my company and we're very happy about it.
    Incentivized
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    VMware by Broadcom
    • A positive impact is that it require little to no funding to use.
    • Negative impact is that because it is free it can be hard to get support.
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