Linus Torvalds, Linux kernel initiator
Position: 44 Last year: Not ranked
Why? An open-source saviour
Agree with panel rating?
Linus Torvalds makes a repeat appearance on the Agenda Setters list this year after dropping out of the top 50 in 2006.
The father of Linux re-emerges in the rankings due to his ongoing contributions in the open-source world - including setting up the Linux Foundation this year from the merger of the Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group in an effort to increase the momentum behind open source.
The Linux Foundation has subsequently announced two summits to deal with legal issues surrounding Linux and open-source software, demonstrating that this open-source heavyweight is still hitting hard on key issues.
Torvalds is still happy to rock the software boat too - having spoken candidly this year about what he sees as Microsoft spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt among open-source users.
The Foundation sponsors the work of Torvalds and counts companies such as Google, HP, IBM, Intel and Novell among its members, making it one to watch over the next year.
Position
Year
Plot position against other Agenda Setters
Take a walk down memory lane - and find out who made the agenda setters poll in years past
"Blogging's definitely got to the point where there're enough mainstream consumers watching it for the top bloggers to be regarded as agenda setters."
Michael Smith,
Agenda Setters panellist
"Open source gets more important rather than being something that will get squeezed out of the enterprise."
Simon Briskman,
Agenda Setters panellist
The world's 50 most innovative companies BusinessWeek
The world's 100 most powerful women Forbes.com
Chron 500 - The San Francisco Bay Area's top public companies San Francisco Chronicle
100 fastest growing tech companies Business 2.0
Content featuring Linus Torvalds
Linus Torvalds has only missed out on the Agenda Setters list twice (2006 and 2008) since it started in 2000 and returns in 2009 at a respectable 20, reflecting the continuing importance of open source software.
I'm sure Linus Torvalds would have something strongly worded to say about Google's plans to "completely redesign" the underlying security architecture of Linux. You can email Linus Torvalds or Mark Shuttleworth directly and get answers to your...
A new architecture for putting hardware into suspend mode has been put into place, according to Linux developer Linus Torvalds. Developers have released the Linux kernel version 2.6.30, adding support for new file systems as well as performance...
If software and open source is your thing there are plenty to follow: Mitch Kapor founder of Lotus and the Mozilla Foundation, Ian Murdock, founder of Debian and Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux (albeit merely piping his blog content to Twitter...
As well as promoting Linux around the world, the Linux Foundation also sponsors the work of Linux kernel project lead Linus Torvalds. Canonical, the company that sponsors the Linux-based operating system Ubuntu, has joined the Linux Foundation.
After that time, project head Linus Torvalds issues a release candidate kernel, which is then stabilised. Linus in the Linux kernel has lieutenants around him, [as does] Jeremy Allison at Samba. Some developers and businesses attempting to submit...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
RSS Feeds