Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			27 Months Ended	39 Months Ended	51 Months Ended				1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 Cash Flow Hedging	Dec. 31, 2011 Cash Flow Hedging	Dec. 31, 2010 Cash Flow Hedging	Jul. 31, 2012 Interest rate swap contract	Apr. 30, 2012 Interest rate swap contract	Nov. 30, 2011 Interest rate swap contract	Dec. 31, 2012 Interest rate swap contract	Dec. 31, 2010 Interest rate swap contract	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Foreign Exchange	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Cash Flow Hedging	Dec. 31, 2012 Furniture and fixtures Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Furniture and fixtures Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Equipment and software Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Equipment and software Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Improvements Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Improvements Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Buildings Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Buildings Maximum
Principles of consolidation
Percentage of ownership interest in VMware, Inc.		80.00%	80.00%				80.00%
Foreign currency translation
Net losses from foreign currency transactions		$ 15,700,000	$ 12,800,000	$ 4,500,000
Derivatives
Contract maturity																1 year	6 months
Notional amount of cash flow hedges								201,000,000	194,000,000	152,000,000					900,000,000
Realized loss on replaced interest rate swap contracts	45,500,000										45,500,000	23,000,000	141,000,000
Accumulated realized losses in other comprehensive income related to previously-anticipated interest payments reclassified from other comprehensive income and recognized in the consolidated income statements		39,500,000												39,500,000
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash equivalents		3,260,200,000	1,434,800,000				1,434,800,000
Allowance for doubtful accounts receivable
Current		68,465,000	61,804,000				61,804,000
Non-current (included in other assets, net)		3,850,000	2,850,000				2,850,000
Allowance for doubtful accounts receivable, total		72,315,000	64,654,000				64,654,000
Property, plant and equipment
Useful life (in years)																		5 years	10 years	2 years	10 years	5 years	31 years	15 years	51 years
Software development costs
Unamortized software development costs		702,700,000	665,400,000				665,400,000
Amortization expense for software development costs		398,000,000	380,300,000	314,600,000
Capitalized amounts for software development costs		432,000,000	479,700,000	399,500,000
Advertising
Advertising costs		30,000,000	44,400,000	40,100,000
Accounting for immaterial prior period accounting error
Prior period reclassification adjustment to decrease deferred tax liability and increase additional paid-in capital		$ 352,600,000			$ 499,600,000	$ 467,100,000	$ 352,600,000