There's No Looking Back For Eric Schmidt

You've got to admire Eric Schmidt's pluck. When he quit his job as chief technologist of red-hot Sun Microsystems Inc. in March to become chief executive of troubled Novell Inc., reactions ranged from surprise to bafflement. Even his old boss, Sun CEO Scott G. McNealy, remains bemused. "I never understood why he left the best job on the planet," McNealy says.

Especially for what may be one of the hardest jobs in computerdom. Novell once virtually owned the market for the software that runs corporate networks. By the time Schmidt came on board, its share had dwindled to 57%, from 70% in 1993, and archrival Microsoft Corp. was poised to grab the No. 1 spot for new sales with Windows NT. The cause of Novell's woes: a bitter brew of aging technology, ill-advised acquisitions, and management turmoil. Worst of all, the company was a virtual no-show on the biggest network of them all, the Internet.