vmware server end of life, where to go now?

We have some virtual machines on vmware server 2.x running on 64 bit hardware and quite happy with it.

As vmware server will no longer be offered we are thinking to migrate to ESXi, which seems is free. We will have to install the specialized network cards but that's a minor problem.

But once left alone with a quite silently discontinued product there is some resistance to vmware.

VirtualBox seems to work: http://blogs.oracle.com/virtualization/2010/06/migrating_from_vmware_to_virtu.html

What other free (of licencing cost) options are there? We have windows server 2003 32 bit VMs and also linux 32 and 64 bit VMs to migrate. So xen does not seem an option, which does not run microsoft OSes.

Edit: I accepted grub's answer, because I find many aspects of the questions covered. But its not easy to choose, because all answers are very good. Thank you all! I feel quite well informed now and your answers really helped a lot.

You can also take a look at the XenServer from Citrix. It's like the ESXi freely available. I don't have much experience with the XenServer and don't now it's unlicensed feature set.

I would recommend ESXi because the migration of the VM's from the VMware Server to ESXi should be nearly painless (thanks to VMware Converter). Also you already got the basic knowledge about the VMware envionments (naming conventions etc.)

VMware will not discontinue ESXi 4 or change it's pricing (basicly free...). At least not in the near future.

The end of life of the Vmware server product line wasn't "silently". You just have to know where to look ;-)

http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/lifecycle/general/index.html#policy_server

My suggestion would be to go with ESX/ESXi -- You presumably already have a substantial investment in VMWare knowledge in-house, and those skills mostly transfer over to managing ESX/ESXi. In addition if you ever want to leverage the advanced features of the VirtualCenter platform an already-installed ESX environment is a great starting point.

The other thing to consider is that if you have problems it's really easy to find VMWare people (at least here in NY, and in my experience on the internet too) -- Other virtualization solutions are great but you may have to do a little digging to find help if something goes wrong.