Google's Schmidt named the top man in tech

For moulding an internet upstart into a solid business that's becoming more and more wide-ranging, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been named silicon.com's number one Agenda Setter for 2005.

Schmidt beat 2004 winner Ashley Highfield from the BBC, who comes in third this year, and 2003 winner Steve Jobs, who came second in 2004 and now again in 2005.

It's a return of the dot-coms with winner Schmidt joined by a handful of internet company bosses who have been absent from the list in recent years, including Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos (21), eBay CEO Meg Whitman (26) and Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel (28).

A panel of experts decided the annual poll by voting on three factors - global influence, decision-making prowess and longevity. Past winners include Rupert Murdoch (2002), Steve Case (2001) and Sir Christopher Gent (2000).

The 2005 poll features a mix of the usual tech big wigs and upstarts challenging the status quo.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (14) and chairman Bill Gates (20) both claim spots but are for the first time passed by Linux creator Linus Torvalds (11). On the open source front, Mozilla chair Mitch Kapor (23) also gets the nod.

Skype's Niklas Zennström dropped one spot from 2004 but still makes a strong showing at number 4. Along with Vonage's Jeffrey Citron (36), Zennström was chosen for the threat voice over IP presents to the big telcos, and the shake-up this technology is bringing about in the telecoms arena.

Also fighting the established order are activist Florian Mueller (43), chosen for his work against the legalisation of software patents in Europe, and Simon Davies and Gus Hosein (45), for their work on the LSE's Identity Project which aims to expose shortcomings in the UK government's ID cards scheme.

Security makes a strong showing on the list, led by Symantec CEO John Thompson at number 15. And two of the top 10 are from Asia - Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (6) and Samsung Electronics CEO Kun-Hee Lee (7) - revealing the growing influence of the far east on the IT industry.

For the full list of 2005 Agenda Setters, extended analysis and biographies, plus details on the experts who chose the winners, see www.siliconagendasetters.com.