[CentOS] C 5.2 and VMWAre error

A colleague has a newly built 64-bit CentOS 5.0 system that, through yum 
updates, has become CentOS 5.2.    VMWare Workstation and Player work fine 
for my account on it.   But a recent configuration of something under 
their account has produced:

vmplayer
GTK Accessibility Module initialized
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmplayer: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib64/libspi.so.0: 
undefined symbol: atk_hyperlink_impl_get_type

The same error (I think) comes up if I try to invoke vmware (Workstation).

As a reminder, if I su - <my account> and run vmplayer, it works.

I typed env > env.txt for both accounts, diff'd them, and didn't see 
anything obvious to my eyes.

I did the same for set > set.txt.  Again,  nothing obvious.   I rebooted 
the system.  Same problem.

What is the most likely cause under their account if, on the same system, 
it works fine for me?

Google searching didn't help much, either.  A few posts about the same 
problem, but no responses.

Thanks for any insights.

Scott