NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Technology

Ten people who have influenced technology over the past decade

By Ellen Dorset
Herald online·
24 Dec, 2009 06:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Larry Page and Sergey Brin: Co-founders of Google, the world's most popular search engine and one which has arguably been the most significant tool of the past decade. Although Google took off in 1998, Page and Brin have continued to dominate the web and their company, Googleplex is often named " Best Place to Work" in America. One of their most recent endeavours, Google.org was launched in 2004 and focused on solving worldwide problems relating to poverty, energy and the environment.

Sam Morgan: Trade Me, the largest internet-auction website in New Zealand was founded by Morgan in 1999 and was sold for over $700 million to Fairfax in 2006.

Built single handedly by Morgan, it was the first website of its kind that catered to kiwis and was easy to use. Trade Me has grown to hold over 70 per cent of market share and with nearly 2.5 million registered users.

Steve Jobs: CEO and Co-founder of Apple, a company that continues to astound with product innovation, Jobs has led the IT industry with Macintosh computers, OS X operating system and consumer and professional application software. In more recent years, he has revolutionised the music industry with the iPod in 2003 and digital jukebox, iTunes. Jobs was also the CEO for Pixar Animation Studios, which has produced eight of the most successful animated films of all time.

Mark Shuttleworth: Founder of Canonical LTD, Shuttleworth has taken on Microsoft's domination of the operating system market through the development of Ubuntu Linux. Committed to free and open source software, with Ubuntu he has shown that Open Source is especially beneficial to schools and colleges across the world and in developed and developing countries.

Mike Zuckerberg: Thanks to Zuckerberg, we've become even more successful procrastinators with the most popular social networking site, Facebook. With over 300 million users worldwide, Facebook has overtaken its older rival, MySpace. Zuckerberg has re-imagined the web as a connected community.

Meg Whitman: As CEO of eBay for most of the decade, Whitman was a key leader of the societal shift to online auctions. Under her guidance the company placed heavy emphasis on customer input and involvement, and eBay flourished.

Jimmy Wales: Founder of Wikipedia, Wales made life a whole lot easier when the free online encyclopaedia hit the web in 2001. Wikipedia now boasts more than 3.1 million articles in English and is one of the top five visited sites in the world.

Biz Stone: Co-founder of Twitter, one of the world's fastest growing social networking companies, Stone has created a new and original form of communication. Adopted worldwide, the microblogging service restricts each entry - called "tweets" - to 140 characters and is a new way for people to express themselves, and access opinions and information.

Rod Drury: Founder and CEO of online accounting software provider Xero, Drury is focusing on the world market, and his software has so far made life easier for small businesses in 25 countries. He is a New Zealand pioneer of the "Software as a Service" movement which is rapidly replacing software installed on computers and changing the way people work.

Drury also founded AfterMail, which was bought by Quest Software in January 2006 and won Best Exchange Product at TechEd 2006.

He was named as a Kea World Class New Zealander in 2008 and was New Zealand Hi-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and 2007.

Mitchell Baker: Chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation that launched the Firefox browser in 2004, Baker aimed to keep the web open and loosen the strangle hold Internet Explorer had over other browsers. Now Firefox's market share has reached 25 per cent while the world's most popular browser, Internet Explorer has slipped to 64 per cent.

Discover more

Business

Twitter has its eye on the money with Google and Microsoft deals

25 Dec 03:00 PM
New Zealand

Facebook, Frodo and sporting triumphs

31 Dec 03:00 PM
Business

Xero in top 10 fastest growing companies

02 Dec 08:20 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Technology

Business

New World customers warned after ‘password spraying’ attack

Premium
Technology

‘Huge upheaval’: Big Govt department's tech team to be cut

Technology

Google's AI app lets users create videos from photos at $20 a month


Sponsored

Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Technology

New World customers warned after ‘password spraying’ attack
Business

New World customers warned after ‘password spraying’ attack

New World's parent company Foodstuffs says none of its systems were breached.

12 Jul 02:39 AM
Premium
Premium
‘Huge upheaval’: Big Govt department's tech team to be cut
Technology

‘Huge upheaval’: Big Govt department's tech team to be cut

11 Jul 04:00 AM
Google's AI app lets users create videos from photos at $20 a month
Technology

Google's AI app lets users create videos from photos at $20 a month

11 Jul 02:50 AM


Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?
Sponsored

Tired of missing out on getting to global summits to help grow your business?

14 Jul 04:48 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP