No. 1 Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, Microsoft

Last year's position: Not placed

Why? Leading Microsoft into the post-Bill Gates era

When Ray Ozzie made his last appearance on the 2001 Agenda Setters list at number 9, few could have imagined that within five years he would get the biggest job in the industry - succeeding Bill Gates at Microsoft - and top the Agenda Setters list.

But that's exactly what he's done. Ozzie will work alongside Gates on all technical architecture and product development strategy ahead of Gates stepping down completely next year to concentrate on his charity foundation.

It's for the power he will have in this role at such a crucial time in Microsoft's history - when its dominance is threatened - that the Agenda Setters panel chose him as the most influential individual in the tech industry.

Ozzie's challenge will be to lead Microsoft in the brave new world of online software services where Redmond's dominance of the desktop can no longer be taken for granted thanks to the gauntlet thrown down by Google et al. He must also answer for the company's ever-expanding product cycles including the five-years-overdue operating system Vista.

The Agenda Setters panel called Ozzie a "radical change force" for Microsoft because he is taking a new approach and moving the company in a very different direction.

Ozzie, an industry visionary with a loyal following long before his days at Microsoft, was one of the developers of collaboration and email software Lotus Notes, and went on to pioneer peer-to-peer collaboration software for businesses with his company Groove Networks.

Ballmer may be the brash and cocky public voice of Microsoft but it is the talented and unassuming Ozzie who will be the key to success in Redmond's post-Gates era.