Excerpts from that interview follow:

Is it fair to say you've been frustrated the past couple of years riding shotgun and not being in the driver's seat so you could steer the company where you think it's needed to go? It's fair to say that I'm excited about the opportunity to lead the company and to be more aggressive with our execution.

Why do you think it took as long as it did for the board to recognize that Novell needed new leadership and to do something about it? As you know, that's a complex subject, obviously. What I'm pleased with is that they saw what needed to be done, and they took their action. They needed to take some time to look at their options, and to look at me to see if I was a legitimate player.

In all candor, do you think it took longer than it should have? I'll pass on that one.

In hindsight, do you think Novell's acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners was a mistake? No. I think the execution could have been done better. We didn't get a timely integration done. We confused our go-to-market model with our business model. What I mean by that is we took the business model of consulting and mixed it with the software business model. We translated that into, "OK, that means we sell consulting now." What it really should have been is using consulting to leverage our software products.