Microsoft's Ozzie named the top man in tech

For leading Microsoft into the post-Bill Gates era, Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at the software giant, has been named silicon.com's number 1 Agenda Setter for 2006.

Ozzie is the first ever winner from Microsoft - the closest Bill Gates came was a number 2 spot in 2003. This is the first year neither Bill Gates nor Steve Ballmer appear in the Agenda Setters top 50, signalling a changing of the guard at Redmond and in the tech industry as founders of tech stalwarts hand over the reigns of their companies.

Along with Gates stepping aside, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz (number 46) debuted on the list instead of Sun chairman and founder Scott McNealy; and Dell CEO Kevin Rollins (number 45) takes the spot of Dell founder Michael Dell.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who won the poll in 2005, came in third, followed by News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch - the only individual to be named an Agenda Setter every year since the poll's inception in 2000 - and Apple CEO Steve Jobs at number 5.

A panel of experts decided the annual poll by voting on three factors - global influence, decision-making prowess and longevity. Past winners include Ashley Highfield (2004), Steve Jobs (2003), Rupert Murdoch (2002), Steve Case (2001) and Sir Christopher Gent (2000).

Not just a collection of the usual big names, the top 50 includes several individuals who were chosen for creating innovative websites and user-generated content such as: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales (7), YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen (9), Flickr co-founders Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake (27), Craigslist founder Craig Newmark (37) and Digg founder Kevin Rose (49).

The seventh annual Agenda Setters poll also reveals the rise of Asian tech companies on the global stage with top 50 winners such as Alibaba.com CEO Jack Ma (11), Huawei Technologies CEO Ren Zhengfei, TCS CEO S Ramadorai (22) and Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani (40).

For the full list of 2006 Agenda Setters, extended analysis and biographies, plus details on the experts who chose the winners, see www.siliconagendasetters.com.