Very concerning because redis is also sponsored by VMWare.
1) I'll not leave VMware for another company. I received several offers from other companies, and I never ever investigated what the salary or stocks or conditions could be. It is as simple as that: VMware provided huge value to the Redis community for several years and is extremely supportive. There is no reason for me to go to another company.
2) But VMware may fire me. If this will happen it can only happen because there is a lost of interest about Redis for some reason. In this case it will be natural for me to continue in some other way the development, and if VMware will be no longer interested in Redis, it is unlikely it will be against me continuing the development in alternative ways.
Btw about the current issue with Vert.x, what I see is that a developer signed some contract where the IP is transfered to VMware, and later joined what can be considered a competitor. My feeling is that the current evolution was a bit expected or at least not so unlikely.
I'm not saying they are going to do that, it's just a third option that's possible in my opinion and which had just become a bit more likely now that they have shown how they are willing to do with projects they own^Wsponsor.