Ray Ozzie is Top Tech Titan

Both Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie have made sillicon.com's seventh annual Agenda Setters poll. The names of the 50 top finalists are reflecting a general tendency in the evolution of the tech industry, an evolution that is referred to as the "changing of the guard." The context is illustrative as, out of the mass of Microsoft executives, Ozzie and Mundie have made it in the top 50, while Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were left out. The situation also mirrors the evolution of Microsoft's senior executives, both Ozzie and Mundie slowly taking on Gates' role within the company he co-founded.

"Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, wins the number 1 spot on the Agenda Setters poll for leading the company into the post-Bill Gates era and proving he's a radical change force within the software giant as it moves into the world of online software services," reads silicon.com's press release which also indicates that this is a premiere for a Microsoft executive.

Mundie however has only managed to climb to the 24th position in the Agenda Setters poll, but the climb is also in relation to his increasing profile within Microsoft. As Bill Gates is transitioning out of the Redmond Company, Mundie is left to administer Microsoft's technical philosophy steering the company's research efforts toward the next-generation of products. A similar "changing of the guard" evolution is also developing at Sun and Dell were the new Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz and Dell CEO Kevin Rollins have made the list in the detriment of Sun chairman and founder, Scott McNealy, and Dell founder, Michael Dell.

"Our annual poll continues to reveal the major themes in the tech industry from the re-emergence of Asia on the global stage to the innovation taking place in online media. The poll has developed from being focused on corporate CEOs and politicians to being dominated by the creators and inventors of technologies and ideas that will shape the industry for years to come," commented Tony Hallett, editor and site director of silicon.com.