What with the end of XP’s life, a new 3G iPhone emerging, and the departure of VMware’s CEO, Bill Snyder pauses to reflect that, “it’s a good time to remember that Microsoft, for all its shortcomings, still beats the pants off Apple in the market for operating systems.” Now, Snyder asks that readers not go ballistic on him just yet for that last line because it’s not to say that Vista is better than Leopard. Microsoft’s latest OS, in fact, has its own problems. “After 18 months of life, you’d think an operating system’s shakedown period would be long over,” Snyder writes in this week’s installment of Tech’s bottom line. While OS X is gaining market share, Snyder’s got a little mathematical reality check that Apple and its cult of customers might not appreciate so much. And then there’s VMware, which, Snyder writes, “has lost a good deal of momentum, and for now, it’s score one for Microsoft.” Software Development