The deal was done in November 2021, on the same day Dell and VMware split up when the grey tin box shifter decided to clear some debt by spinning off the company.

In those ancient times, Dell was still keen on VMware and wanted to keep it and still “be friends.”

The deal was signed to “make official the business relationship between the parties to keep the mutual benefit between Dell and VMware and to confirm the parties’ interest in working together on solutions and a sales strategy.”

The deal said: “With some technologies and sales activities, the parties’ products and services work better together to make things easier and cheaper for customers.”

Nothing has changed that would make working together “less good” for customers. However, instead, a lot has happened to hack off Dell when it shacked up with Broadcom.

Broadcom decided to stop letting makers like Dell sell VMware’s products, resulting from the chip giant’s plan to stop selling VMware licenses forever and instead force software subscriptions that bundle many products.

That decision has not gone down well -- not with OEMs, who lose money, nor customers who liked buying licenses with hardware because it was often better than buying them on their own.

Dell’s filing says the old deal let its VMware deal end after a “change of control” at either party. Broadcom’s takeover of VMware is that.