The removal of Diane Greene is probably VMware's best hope for survival.

Yes, I realize this isn't Apple's wedding anniversary. But it is mine, and I have a special favor to ask: Can my husband cut the Leopard line at our local Apple store so he can get his T-shirt, and we can get to our celebration dinner before, say, midnight?

My husband, aka "IT Guy," downloaded Vista's final client pretty much the moment it became available. (Corporate users with an MSDN account were allowed to download the business version of the Vista client last week even though it officially goes on sale today. The consumer version is still on track for the end of January.)

Vista was supposed to be a stand-in for the Mac that IT Guy really wants, but it didn't turn out that way.

Yes, the interface is beautiful, and it did wind up helping our real-time video client. (For some reason, channel 5 never worked before Vista.) But it turns out that some key drivers, at least for our home use, are still missing (among them a tablet device used for creating digital art and a painter application). The printer driver wasn't really happy, either.