“Fame and fortune has rarely been their immediate spur. A passion for changing the world through technology s the hallmark of the IT Greats. Sometimes they have changed technology, sometimes they have transformed the way technology is marketed or radically altered the way IT is perceived by society,” ComputerWeekly writes. “Some have been involved in great leaps forward, some have made incremental changes that have stood the test of time.”
ComputerWeekly writes, “Whatever the case, our industry is truly one where we all stand on the shoulders of giants, and we are proud to pay tribute to some of them in the results of our IT Greats poll.”
Top 10 Greatest IT People:
1. Steve Jobs: Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple Computer, topped the Computer Weekly 40th anniversary poll due to the devoted following he has generated through his pioneering work in personal computing and product design.
2. Tim Berners-Lee
3. Bill Gates
4. James Gosling
5. Linus Torvalds
6. Richard Stallman
7. Arthur C Clark
8. Ted Codd
9. Steve Shirley
10. Martha Lane Fox
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rainy Day” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: To everyone who voted, good job!
Related article:
ComputerWeekly poll: Who are the most influential IT people of past 40 years? (Steve Jobs included) – July 23, 2006
Congratulations to those who “made the list” this year, but I wonder who will be anointed in the future and for what reason. In this ever-changing world the names and rankings are bound to change.
Top dog-God pot.
Any poll that would place Martha Lane Fox (formerly of the B-list web store ‘lastminute.com’) in the top 10, whilst ignoring people like Shockley, Noyce, Amdahl, Olsen or De Castro is undoubtedly lacking in perspective.
Or Billy boy, for that matter.
That is, to put Billy boy on the list, and so highly at that.
If Mr. Bill Gates is worth #3 in this list, Chester Carlson, inventor of xerography, should be #2…
where’s steve ballmer ?
uhuhu
flappo this is IT list, not the furniture moving industry list!
Anyone notice that the first 4 people were all born in 1955? Something must have been in the air that year…
according to bon scott , rocnk n’ roll was born that year !
Did I see Shirley Mac-Lane in there somewhere?
Freddy
“Anyone notice that the first 4 people were all born in 1955? Something must have been in the air that year…”
yeah, apparently it was their mother’s legs…
twice!
“Fame and fortune has rarely been their immediate spur. A passion for changing the world through technology s the hallmark of the IT Greats.”
I fail to see how Bill Gates’ passion was to change the world through technology. He never innovated or invented a thing. He copied, stole, crushed or bought out those who did innovate and create.He has never tried to improve the world. He has tried, and succeeded, to improve his own bottom line. Anything that he has done that may have helped the world is purely incidental.
Anyone who claims this popularity poll has no validity because of the inclusion of certain members to “the list” also has no reason to believe that Steve Jobs is an appropriate selection. Really, what does this poll matter anyhow?
WHERE IS AL GORE’S NAME? THAT ASSHAT INVENTED IT!
Really, what does this poll matter anyhow?
Agreed. It’s like naming the most important person of the 20th century. It’s just academic.
If ComputerWeekly really wanted to be of help, they’d identify the ten most important people, and the ten most significant products, of the NEXT ten years.
Anyone can look back. It’s looking forward that’s tough.
EXCELLENT tech year. My B-Year too!
MDN readers couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with the result, could they?