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Gates, Jobs, Torvalds: Who is Most Important?

Posted by michael on from the cowboyneal-sadly-not-ranked dept.

Ian Wilson writes "silicon.com has launched its latest Agenda Setters poll which puts together a list of the top 50 people influencing tech. I remember Slashdot carried last year's poll - which was won by Steve Jobs. The full top 50 includes many of the usual suspects. Last year's winner Steve Jobs has slipped down to second place, but perhaps most interesting is the fact that the panel of judges couldn't separate Linus Torvalds and Bill Gates - they are tied in seventh place."

2 of 572 comments (clear)

  1. Scary scary bloke by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    [This is possibly more 'yro' than 'it' but the consequences are truly scary for the UK if this man gets his way]

    Look at number 5 - David Blunkett. This man makes all other (previously thought to be totalitarian) Home Secretaries in the UK look positively liberal. To recount:

    • Wants to introduce compulsory biometric ID cards, despite massive opposition
    • Wants to DNA-sample all Europeans and be able to cross-reference them in a db.
    • Has enacted legislation forcing all telecoms companies (phone,'net,...) to monitor their users. The aptly named 'RIP justice' bill.
    • Wants to monitor ex-criminals with satellite technology. Note the important bit is these people are potential re-offenders!
    • Wants to greatly increase the number of cameras around the UK
    • God knows what else...


    Sure he's an agenda-setter, but Vlad the impaler had an agenda. It didn't make it a good agenda, unless you happened to be Vlad himself...

    Simon.
    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
  2. The site is slow. Here's the list. by oncee · · Score: 5, Informative
    • 1. Ashley Highfield
    • 2. Steve Jobs
    • 3. Niklas Zennstrom
    • 4. Tom Ridge
    • 5. David Blunkett
    • 6. Richard Granger
    • 7. Linus Torvalds
    • 7. Bill Gates
    • 9. Eric Schmidt
    • 10. Marc Benioff
    • 11. Sir Peter Gershon
    • 12. Marten Mickos
    • 13. Meg Whitman
    • 14. Sir David Tweedie
    • 15. Jonathan Ive
    • 16. James Murdoch
    • 17. Arun Sarin
    • 18. Rupert Murdoch
    • 19. Sven Jaschan
    • 20. S Ramadorai
    • 21. Karen Price
    • 22. Lawrence Lessig
    • 23. Ian Foster
    • 24. Jonathan Schwartz
    • 25. Joe McGeehan
    • 26. Vivek Paul
    • 27. Sam Palmisano
    • 28. Eric Abensur
    • 29. Martin Varsavsky
    • 30. Donald E Knuth
    • 31. Len Hynds
    • 32. David Levin
    • 33. John Connors
    • 34. Michael Dell
    • 35. Azim Premji
    • 36. Ben Verwaayen
    • 37. Daniel Egger
    • 38. Van Honeycutt
    • 39. Jon Rubinstein
    • 40. Mark J Cox
    • 41. Hu Jintao
    • 42. Dan'l Lewin
    • 43. Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley
    • 44. Richard Stallman
    • 45. Ratan Tata
    • 46. Michael Powell
    • 47. David Sainsbury
    • 48. Andy Duncan
    • 49. Bernard C Soriano
    • 50. Simon Davies