When Ron Hovsepian joined Novell in 2003 as president of the company's operations in North America, what he stepped into left him knee-deep in muck. The 17-year IBM veteran found himself sloshing around in the messes made by the management team from Cambridge Technology Partners following Novell's acquisition of that company in 2001. The biggest mess-maker of all was Jack Messman, the head of CTP who inexplicably assumed the CEO position at Novell. It quickly became apparent that Messman was woefully ill-equipped to run an enterprise software company, and his attempts to recast the company as part services outfit proved ill-fated.

Hovsepian was named president and COO last November, a day before Novell announced plans to shed some of its consulting baggage and lay off 10 percent of its global workforce. But there was only so much he could accomplish, even in the No. 2 spot, and it's inexcusable that Novell's board couldn't recognize that. Or perhaps it did recognize it but lacked the fortitude to do anything about it. If so, its inaction was more shameful than inexcusable.

I had the opportunity to meet up with Hovsepian a couple of weeks ago at Novell's Waltham, Mass., headquarters, and I can truthfully say that we had what for me was one of the most honest, open, sincere discussions I've had with a vendor executive in the 16 years I've been in this line of work. Perhaps you've had the same sort of experience: You meet someone for the first time, and you know almost immediately that this person is a genuinely decent, engaged individual whose heart is in the right place, and who has the talent to put those qualities to good use.

Novell's long-suffering users deserve that type of leader. I've been to enough Brainshare user conferences to know that they're an earnest, persevering bunch who have remained loyal to the company despite having been given any number of reasons to abandon it. That loyalty isn't born of charity, but rather of a long-standing appreciation for Novell's technology.

Novell's users have doggedly stayed a very tough course. Thursday, they were finally rewarded for that.