This strategy works... until it doesn't. You may well be correct for the next 3-5 years; but after that those customers will leave and they won't come back. Ever.
Tech is littered with the twittering ghosts of companies that had something "essential" and "irreplaceable". The strategy is "a retreat to the high end" and a self-serving re-definition of "who are customers are" and "what we do".
Yes. Mind share is important.
Does VMWare have the best product or are they so popular because "that's what I know"?
As smaller shops switch away (the Proxmox folks must be in a pretty good mood), the job market will be full of people who know the alternatives, but not VMWare products. And when "the real thing" is so incredibly expensive, why not switch to something comparable that your people already know?
Tech is littered with the twittering ghosts of companies that had something "essential" and "irreplaceable". The strategy is "a retreat to the high end" and a self-serving re-definition of "who are customers are" and "what we do".