eWeek names its top 15 open-source business influencers

commentary

eWeek has put together a solid list of the top-15 open-source business influencers in the industry today. It's much the same that I would have devised had I come up with such a list. Names like Linus Torvalds (Linux), Mitchell Baker (Mozilla), Mike Milinkovich (Eclipse), and Larry Augustin (most startups known to humankind) make the list. Also John Roberts of SugarCRM, who was really the one who made commercial open source as big a topic as it is today, at least beyond Linux and middleware.

But the list is also notable for its inclusion of some people that might normally escape public notice, but who deserve it all the same. Tim Golden (Bank of America) is one such person. Another is Peter Fenton (Benchmark Capital). Few recognize just how deeply involved Peter is in the open-source venture market.

Others on the list, like Mark Shuttleworth, are well-known but not yet for the right reasons. Mark is known more for his engineering side (Ubuntu), but I think his most lasting impact will be with the uncompromising business principles that he brings to Canonical.

At any rate, good people getting the credit they're due.