No. 11 Linus Torvalds, father of Linux
Last year's position: 7
Though down four positions from last year, Linus Torvalds for the first time ranks above rival Bill Gates on the Agenda Setters list.He owes this feat no doubt to his ongoing role as the symbolic leader of the open source movement, which continues to gain credibility in corporate IT departments, thanks in part to backing from big tech players such as IBM.
Born in 1991 while Torvalds was at university, Linux is "one of the validating elements" of open source, according to one Agenda Setters panellist - and Torvalds still keeps a close grip on the operating system's kernel development.
Among the few who have appeared on every Agenda Setters list since its inception, Torvalds spends his days at the Open Source Development Labs in Portland. If he appears in headlines less than he once did, it's not because his influence has waned. There are still legions who subscribe to the 'when Linus talks, we listen' creed.
Take a walk down memory lane - and find out who made the Agenda Setters poll over the years:
"China clearly has many dimensions and many are setting an agenda. It's at the political level, it's at the investment level, it's at the contract manufacturing level and it's at the software level - it's all over."
--Peter Rowell, Regent Associates executive chairman and Agenda Setters panellist
How to spend $4 billion? Google has plenty of ideas New York Times via International Herald Tribune
The resurrection of Steve Jobs The Economist
Developing the Skype ecosystem: Q&A with CEO Niklas Zennstrom DigiTimes.com
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