VMware is on a negative trend for USB compatibility with the linux kernel.

Noel - no need to restrict that to Linux - same on Windows.

Nowadays I ask users "do you need reliable USB ? - if yes - stick to 6.5.4"

I don't do MS-Windows, so I didn't know that USB support is broken there, too. For the moment, I can work around this bug by blacklisting the host's (Fedora 13) snd-usb-audio module.

Even worse - I see no improvement at all with the newer 7.1.* versions

I agree. None of the new versions have done anything to resolve the problem, and VMware is silent. I'm not sure which is less acceptable.

At the least, they should be here communicating with us, and giving the impression that they are working on the problems. VMware has a lot to learn from Open Source communities about communication and collaboration.