Top 10 greatest IT people
For every world-famous name with a world famous fortune, such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell, there are hundreds of other individuals who have moved the IT industry and its technology inexorably forward.
Fame and fortune has rarely been their immediate spur. A passion for changing the world through technology is 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.
Some have been involved in great leaps forward, some have made incremental changes that have stood the test of time.
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
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
Readers hail Dilbert the guru of corporate culture
According to Computer Weekly readers, Dilbert, which features every week on the back pages of the magazine, has more insight into corporate life and organisation than any number of highly paid management consultants could ever achieve.
Written and drawn by Scott Adams, Dilbert portrays corporate culture as a world of bureaucracy for its own sake, where employees' skills and efforts are not rewarded. Much of the humour emerges from the characters wrestling with the obviously ridiculous decisions and behaviour of management.
1955: a good year for computing
The top four people in our poll were all born in 1955, making it a very beneficial year for the world of computing.
It may have been a good year for computing, but 1955 was a sad year for science, as Albert Einstein died on 18 April.
It was also the year that the first McDonald's fast food franchise was opened: we'll leave you to make up you own mind about that one.