I think this was changed intentionally, but as a new openSuSE user and a long time VMware user this is causing a slightly frustrating problem.  VMware products still rely on the "/proc/bus/usb" construct in order to provide USB devices to running VMs and unless there is another method that I am unaware of, without the CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS kernel option there is no way to provide the "/proc/bus/usb" construct that VMware needs without using a custom kernel which I always prefer to avoid... ;)

I believe VMware intends to use libusb in the future to provide the functionality thus eliminating this need, but until then, is there any way this option can be turned back on by default?  The most recent VMware Workstation update 5.5.3 still requires the "/proc/bus/usb" construct for USB support.

Affected Products:

VMware Server 1.0.1 (Tested)
VMware Workstation 5.5.3 (Tested)
VMware Player 1.0.3 (Not Tested)