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Richard Davies wrote: The UK has a good crop of technology pioneers in cloud computing - for example ElasticHosts, FlexiScale, Flexiant, OnApp - and also some strong government initiatives such as G-Cloud. We will have to see whether this kind of technical leadership converts into swift mass-market adoption or not.
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In many cases, the end of the year gives you time to step back and take stock of the last 12 months. This is when many of us take a hard look at what worked and what did not, complete performance reviews, and formulate plans for the coming year. For me, it is all of those things plus a time when I u...
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The i-Technology Right Stuff
Searching for the Twenty Top Software People in the World

Related Links:

  • Wanted: 19 More of the Top Software People in the World
  • Sung and Unsung i-Technology Heroes
  • Who's Missing from SYS-CON's i-Technology Top Twenty?"
  • Our search for the Twenty Top Software People in the World is nearing completion. In the SYS-CON tradition of empowering readers, we are leaving the final "cut" to you, so here are the top 40 nominations in alphabetical order.

    Our aim this time round is to whittle this 40 down to our final twenty, not (yet) to arrange those twenty in any order of preference. All you need to do to vote is to go to the Further Details page of any nominee you'd like to see end up in the top half of the poll when we close voting on Christmas Eve, December 24, and cast your vote or votes. To access the Further Details of each nominee just click on their name. Happy voting!

     

    In alphabetical order the nominees are:

     

  • Tim Berners-Lee: "Father of the World Wide Web" and expectant father of the Semantic Web
  • Joshua Bloch: Formerly at Sun, where he helped architect Java's core platform; now at Google
  • Grady Booch: One of the original developers of the Unified Modeling Language
  • Adam Bosworth: Famous for Quattro Pro, Microsoft Access, and IE4; then BEA, now Google
  • Don Box: Coauthor of SOAP
  • Stewart Brand: Cofounder in 1984 of the WELL bulletin board
  • Tim Bray: One of the prime movers of XML, now with Sun
  • Dan Bricklin: Cocreator of VisiCalc, the first PC spreadsheet
  • Larry Brilliant: Cofounder in 1984 of the WELL bulletin board
  • Sergey Brin: Son-of-college-math-professor turned cofounder of Google, Inc.
  • Dave Cutler: The brains behind VMS; hired away by Microsoft for Windows NT
  • Don Ferguson: Inventor of the J2EE application server at IBM
  • Roy T. Fielding: Primary architect of HTTP 1.1 and a founder of the Apache Web server
  • Bob Frankston: Cocreator of VisiCalc, the first PC spreadsheet
  • Jon Gay: The "Father of Flash"
  • James Gosling: "Father of Java" (though not its sole parent)
  • Anders Hejlsberg: Genius behind the Turbo Pascal compiler, subsequently "Father of C#"
  • Daniel W. Hillis: VP of R&D at the Walt Disney Company; cofounder, Thinking Machines
  • Miguel de Icaza: Now with Novell, cofounder of Ximian
  • Martin Fowler: Famous for work on refactoring, XP, and UML
  • Bill Joy: Cofounder and former chief scientist of Sun; main author of Berkeley Unix
  • Mitch Kapor: Designer of Lotus 1-2-3, founder of Lotus Development Corporation
  • Brian Kernighan: One of the creators of the AWK and AMPL languages
  • Mitchell Kertzman: Former programmer, founder, and CEO of Powersoft (later Sybase)
  • Klaus Knopper: Prime mover of Knoppix, a Linux distro that runs directly from a CD
  • Craig McClanahan: Of Tomcat, Struts, and JSF fame
  • Nathan Myhrvold: Theoretical and mathematical physicist, former CTO at Microsoft
  • Tim O'Reilly: Publisher, open source advocate; believer that great technology needs great books
  • Jean Paoli: One of the co-creators of the XML 1.0 standard with the W3C; now with Microsoft
  • John Patrick: Former VP of Internet technology at IBM, now "e-tired"
  • Rob Pike: An early developer of Unix and windowing system (GUI) technology
  • Dennis Ritchie: Creator of C and coinventor of Unix
  • Richard Stallman: Free software movement's leading figure; founder of the GNU Project
  • Bjarne Stroustrup: The designer and original implementor of C++
  • Andy Tanenbaum: Professor of computer science, author of Minix
  • Ken Thompson: Coinventor of Unix
  • Linus Torvalds: "Benevolent dictator" of the Linux kernel
  • Alan Turing: Mathematician; author of the 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence"
  • Guido van Rossum: Author of the Python programming language
  • Ann Winblad: Former programmer, cofounder of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

    Do vote, and we'll bring you the full results - including a selection of such additional comments on the nominations as you may care to leave via our feedback system - in the January 2005 issue of JDJ.

    Related Links:
  • Wanted: 19 More of the Top Software People in the World
  • Sung and Unsung i-Technology Heroes
  • Who's Missing from SYS-CON's i-Technology Top Twenty?"
  • About Jeremy Geelan
    Jeremy Geelan is President & COO of Cloud Expo, Inc. and Conference Chair of the worldwide Cloud Expo series. He appears regularly at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of Cloud Expo's "Power Panels" on SYS-CON.TV.

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    Reader Feedback: Page 1 of 11

    re greatest software heros.

    The list concentrates on the desktop toys of the academics. where is CNC, Radar, embedded, Word processing etc

    Sigh

    For a list labeled "top 20 Software People" there are an awful lot of what I would call purely hardware people. No doubt that they contributed greatly but "software people" they're not.
    And Fred Brooks seems to have fallen off of the list. And Tony Hoare and Kernighan and Ritchie and Corbato etc. etc.

    Roy Fielding was key in giving us the internet we know today. His contributions to HTTP and URI, REST, etc., open source Apache and in helping establish Apache.org as we know it, he has helped countless open source projects from both technical and legal means. He was key in creating the technology environment that not only allowed the WEB to grow, but also open source. Roy's work in Web Arch. in particular REST is proving to help sanity check current WebService efforts and fix huge flaws in SOAP:
    http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/talks/webarch_9805/
    http://www.xfront.com/REST-Web-Services.html
    http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/03/17/udell.html
    http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/12/01/restful-web.html

    Donald Knuth
    Edsger Dykstra
    Nicklaus Wirth
    Leon Post
    Noam Chomsky
    on and on...

    This reminds me of the VH1 top muscian lists.

    So many credible names left off the list and the inclusion of more recent popular names that this effort has no credibility at all.

    Butler Lampson, and any number of other people from PARC. Ada, Lady Lovelace. You seem to think history started 20 years ago.

    how abt Richard Stevens ?

    he deserved to be on the list. everything is based on TCP/IP.

    cheers.

    chiew

    <>Where is Warnock?

    I wish these people at least fixed the bugs in their JavaScript. I get an error each time I submit some feedback. Guess they don't expect anyone to browse with JavaScript error popups turned on.

    Mr A said: Not only did they put Turing side by side with, say, "Ann Winblad: Former programmer, cofounder of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners" (???) -- he's not even getting the most votes!

    That's obvious. Most CS professionals refuse to vote for anyone in this poll.

    anon babbled: Knuth, like a lot of these "top twenty", are just Ivory Tower academics with no real applications in industry.

    Yep, sure. Noone ever used Tex. Noone used the algorithms from that when writing their own DTP software. And most importantly noone ever learned programming from his "programming bible".

    You may be great in Quake, but you aparently know very little about programming and CS history. Back to the school boy!

    >>>I would challenge Tim Berners-Lee's positin
    >>>on this list since it is HTML that has also
    >>>brought us the Browser Wars, and the subsequent
    >>>HTML writer's hell of trying to get a page to
    >>>display properly on all the popular browsers,
    >>>and all versions thereof.

    It would be harsh to exclude Berners-lee just because HTML ain't perfect, IMO - without it we'd not be in a positin to be voting on these guys anyhow!

    I would challenge Tim Berners-Lee's positin on this list since it is HTML that has also brought us the Browser Wars, and the subsequent HTML writer's hell of trying to get a page to display properly on all the popular browsers, and all versions thereof.

    The name HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language, implies a rich set of features that don't exist in reality

    The list would be enhanced by the addition of Chuck Moore, inventor of the ForthLanguage (http://www.forth.com)

    In regard to your top twenty programmers, I am recommending Kjell
    Lindman of Lindman IT AB, Sweden.
    Kjell, or Kelly as he's known to his English speaking friends, is the
    architect behind DXTuners.com - a live, real time streaming radio site
    where you can control one of more than 50 radio's anywhere in the world,
    from the comfort of you own home.

    He designed and built the software platform himself and lately has
    expendaded the idea from being receivers only to having recently
    designed a control interface for a live internet transceiver using GSM
    audio encoding technology to reduce audio delays from around 30
    seconds...to less than 2 seconds.


    Feedback Pages:


    Your Feedback
    Dick Morley wrote: re greatest software heros. The list concentrates on the desktop toys of the academics. where is CNC, Radar, embedded, Word processing etc Sigh
    jim scandale wrote: For a list labeled "top 20 Software People" there are an awful lot of what I would call purely hardware people. No doubt that they contributed greatly but "software people" they're not. And Fred Brooks seems to have fallen off of the list. And Tony Hoare and Kernighan and Ritchie and Corbato etc. etc.
    Anonymous Fielding Fan wrote: Roy Fielding was key in giving us the internet we know today. His contributions to HTTP and URI, REST, etc., open source Apache and in helping establish Apache.org as we know it, he has helped countless open source projects from both technical and legal means. He was key in creating the technology environment that not only allowed the WEB to grow, but also open source. Roy's work in Web Arch. in particular REST is proving to help sanity check current WebService efforts and fix huge flaws in SOAP: http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/talks/webarch_9805/ http://www.xfront.com/REST-Web-Services.html http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/03/17/udell.html http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/12/01/restful-web.html
    conscientious objector wrote: Donald Knuth Edsger Dykstra Nicklaus Wirth Leon Post Noam Chomsky on and on...
    conscientious objector wrote: This reminds me of the VH1 top muscian lists. So many credible names left off the list and the inclusion of more recent popular names that this effort has no credibility at all.
    KarenAnne wrote: Butler Lampson, and any number of other people from PARC. Ada, Lady Lovelace. You seem to think history started 20 years ago.
    Chiew Lee wrote: how abt Richard Stevens ? he deserved to be on the list. everything is based on TCP/IP. cheers. chiew
    John Smith wrote: <>Where is Warnock?
    Jenda wrote: I wish these people at least fixed the bugs in their JavaScript. I get an error each time I submit some feedback. Guess they don't expect anyone to browse with JavaScript error popups turned on.
    Jenda wrote: Mr A said: Not only did they put Turing side by side with, say, "Ann Winblad: Former programmer, cofounder of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners" (???) -- he's not even getting the most votes! That's obvious. Most CS professionals refuse to vote for anyone in this poll.
    Jenda wrote: anon babbled: Knuth, like a lot of these "top twenty", are just Ivory Tower academics with no real applications in industry. Yep, sure. Noone ever used Tex. Noone used the algorithms from that when writing their own DTP software. And most importantly noone ever learned programming from his "programming bible". You may be great in Quake, but you aparently know very little about programming and CS history. Back to the school boy!
    harshr wrote: >>>I would challenge Tim Berners-Lee's positin >>>on this list since it is HTML that has also >>>brought us the Browser Wars, and the subsequent >>>HTML writer's hell of trying to get a page to >>>display properly on all the popular browsers, >>>and all versions thereof. It would be harsh to exclude Berners-lee just because HTML ain't perfect, IMO - without it we'd not be in a positin to be voting on these guys anyhow!
    HTMHell wrote: I would challenge Tim Berners-Lee's positin on this list since it is HTML that has also brought us the Browser Wars, and the subsequent HTML writer's hell of trying to get a page to display properly on all the popular browsers, and all versions thereof. The name HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language, implies a rich set of features that don't exist in reality
    suggestion wrote: The list would be enhanced by the addition of Chuck Moore, inventor of the ForthLanguage (http://www.forth.com)
    kai jones wrote: In regard to your top twenty programmers, I am recommending Kjell Lindman of Lindman IT AB, Sweden. Kjell, or Kelly as he's known to his English speaking friends, is the architect behind DXTuners.com - a live, real time streaming radio site where you can control one of more than 50 radio's anywhere in the world, from the comfort of you own home. He designed and built the software platform himself and lately has expendaded the idea from being receivers only to having recently designed a control interface for a live internet transceiver using GSM audio encoding technology to reduce audio delays from around 30 seconds...to less than 2 seconds.
    Shenme wrote: Perhaps the only 'save' the publishers have is to promise an installment of "The Top-20 Software People We Wish We Didn't Think Of - And Why". Which of course would then somewhat expose whatever biases/prejudices/deadlines they had in coming up with this abortive list. No Larry Wall has me scratching my head. What were you scratching?
    Second that!! wrote: >>I'm not sure what defines a top person in the software >>world according to this list. ... Feels like there >>should be more people on here who aren't just well >>known, but are solving hard problems. I'll second that. Seems that the idea stemmed from a remark about *living* "software people" whereas many of the suggestions here are of historical figures. There might be multiple lists needed to 'map' i-Technology properly/thoroughly
    Junks Jersey wrote: I'm not sure what defines a top person in the software world according to this list. Grady Booch defined UML, which is much loved and much hated, but I'd hardly call that a reason to be a top person. Miguel of Ximian fame is there, though I'm hard pressed to think of why. He's proven to be much more of a self-promoter and follower than a leader or innovator (Gnome, Mono). Feels like there should be more people on here who aren't just well known, but are solving hard problems. Should writing a famous and influential piece of software 20 or 30 years ago count? (If so, where are Ken Iverson and Ivan Sutherland?) Should writing something that becames popular count, even if it isn't necessarily all that good or relevant these days?
    Toby wrote: No, Warnock belongs on technical merit. Many of the listed entrepreneurs aren't inventors, or at least, they keep it quiet. Certainly Warnock's invention has affected almost everyone. Certainly everyone who reads newspapers, or books, or uses a printer. PostScript is -still- underrated as a general purpose programming language, which also adds a dimension to Gosling's nomination, for his work on Sun NeWS.
    No $$$ at all wrote: >>Where is William Kahan (IEEE 754)? Adele Goldberg >>(Smalltalk-80)? John Warnock (PostScript)? Wirth >>(innumerable things)? I also second Dijkstra, Stephen >>Wolfram, Andy Hertzfeld. Delete most of the entrepreneurs. But if the entrepreneurs are to be deleted, doesn't that mean Warnock has to go - he's CEO of Adobe, that exploits PostScript commercially?
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