Agenda Setters 2007

Figures from the open source community have commanded regular slots on the Agenda Setters list but virtually disappeared last year. Gemma Simpson surveys the rankings for signs of the re-emergence of some household names.

Open source has reaffirmed itself as a key theme in this year's Agenda Setters Top 50, with the return of some important - and sometimes outspoken - open source figures and the continued ranking of some familiar favourites.

The open-source Agenda Setters were characterised by the panel as determined individuals, hell-bent on keeping the open-source flag flying through their committed work and candid views - with Google and Microsoft both coming under fire over the past 12 months from our outspoken open sorcerers.

GNU founder Richard Stallman reappears at number 40 in the rankings and Linux creator Linus Torvalds at number 44 after a brief absence by both men from the Agenda Setters list of 2006.

Microsoft has been at the centre of controversy over the past 12 months, mainly because of its statements on open source and its technology partnerships with a range of Linux distributors, which led to Torvalds accusing Microsoft of spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt among open-source users in a recent interview.

Stallman has spent considerable time over the past 12 months supporting local efforts in Cuba to bring open source to the country's government - with the Cuban government announcing that it is to migrate thousands of its computers to open-source software - in a move that distances the communist regime from US-based Microsoft.

Stallman was also instrumental in pushing open source further into the public domain by developing a free open-source software replacement for Unix and campaigning against software plagiarists, according to the panel.

Both Stallman and Torvalds are long-term open source innovators but it isn't just an old boy's game this year, with 22-year-old Blake Ross - one of the people behind the Mozilla Firefox browser - making the list at number 49.

Like his older contemporaries, Ross isn't afraid to cause waves either, having blasted Google for abusing its powerful position in the search market to promote its growing range of products.

But you don't need to scream and shout to be an Agenda Setter - open source supporter Bruce Perens has maintained a position within the top 40 for the second year running.

Coming in at number 39 on this year's list Perens has spent the past year keeping the Open Source Initiative on track and pulling together everyone else's work, according to the panel.

It may seem like a David versus Goliath battle, with the heavyweights from the likes of Apple and Google maintaining top-10 positions while the open source Agenda Setters languish at the bottom end of the rankings. But could these small fries sneak up and slay the technology giants?

It looks likely, according to the panel, but not in the short term, with the open-source revolution having more of a drip-drip effect - rather than a tidal wave of change - on the business world.

Panellist Simon Briskman, partner at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, said: "What surprises me is that open source keeps creeping up on the agenda even in very sophisticated customised software."

Briskman added that open source is the "melting point way of getting hold of software" and its growing importance has earned it a place in the enterprise arena for many years to come.

As the open source Agenda Setters fill up the lower end of the rankings it will be interesting to see whether they move any further up subsequent Agenda Setters lists - or just slip from the rankings altogether.