VMworld was big – but that’s not really news. It has been big for a while – both from an event perspective, but also from a market impact perspective; after all, VMware is the chosen basis for many applications and users. But this year, the “choir” grew; this was partly the obvious growth of those paying attention, including the newly intended-to-be-acquired Pivotal and Carbon Black…but it was also because of a more cohesive and inclusive message. To use terms that VMware would approve of, the company used its virtually eponymous mega-gathering to ‘make its mark’ in the ‘age of any’ by running even-more-keenly towards a multi-cloud world. Heterogeneity was everywhere…as long as that heterogeneity runs on VMware, of course! Conversations about - and proposals for - hybrid-, multi- and even edge- cloud, were both well-constructed and explained…but also at times served to prudently obfuscate the fact that VMware sees itself as the [benevolent?] spider at the center of this expanding IT web.