莫名其妙 I T 世界

高雄地區有名中醫師筆記

2099-12-31T23:59:00.000+08:00

2009DEC19 本文永久置頂!!

主要從這裡整理來的，我只找過巫水生，其他的人無評論，請自行前往看診。

黃新發醫師
新發中醫診所
電話: (07)351-3437
地址: 高雄市楠梓區旗楠路726號

吳德樹樹益醫師
仁安堂
電話: (07)394-5388
地址: 高雄市三民區鼎山街256–2號1樓

劉如鎮醫師
劉如鎮中醫診所
電話：(07) 397-1395
地址：高雄市三民區大順二路110號1樓

林慈倪醫師
淮海中醫診所
電話: (07) 343-1919
地址: 高雄市左營區文敬路28號

巫水生醫師
達生中醫診所
電話: (07) 361-2968
地址: 高雄市楠梓區後昌路225號

吳財秀醫師
順祿中醫診所
電話:(07) 771-1577
地址: 高雄市苓雅區武廟路32號(武廟附近)

黃蘭媖醫師
黃蘭媖中醫診所
電話:(07)743-6066
地址: 高雄縣鳳山市大東一路32號

You never learn, until it happens!

2009-12-04T12:41:00.003+08:00

很久以前就說，新的AP 只要WEB化就好了。

原來廠商使用一種轉換工具，將舊的Client-Server AP轉成新的Web-based AP，才可以省很多分析的工作。

新系統上線，第一天只存活了兩個小時，原因不明，第二天只存活了半個小時，資料庫死當。然後第三天，決定新系統停用，轉回舊系統，新系統的所有已經完成的作業回舊系統重新做。

就當我預言成真的一個紀錄吧。

TREND MICRO 趨勢科技 OfficeScan 將Google 頁庫存檔當成網路釣魚網頁?

2009-05-19T15:30:00.002+08:00

2009MAY20 0930 更新。

TREND MICRO OfficeScan 已經不會將 Google 頁庫存檔當成網路釣魚網頁了。

2009MAY19 1530 更新。

這個問題似乎是，TREND MICRO 的 OfficeScan 將 Google 服務以 IP 開頭的網頁都當成了釣魚網頁，而且風險等級還是高喔!MSN Live Search 沒有這個問題，因為MSN Live Search 的庫存頁面，用的是 cc.msnscache.com 這個 host name。

這算是Bug嗎?還是 TREND MICRO 眼睛不夠大，不識 Google 頁庫存檔的服務IP?

有圖有真相。

(點圖放大，注意左下角的 URL)

(點圖放大)

數位相框新運用

2008-08-25T11:44:00.003+08:00

到玉山銀行的櫃檯前辦一些事情，在櫃檯前看到行員以數位相框播放各式的促銷商品，像是定存，信貸，保險以及利率表等等。當下就覺得蠻酷的，行員解釋，用數位相框可以省下這些DM列印成紙張或卡片的費用，節能減碳喔。

我是覺得「節能減碳」還不致於，但是用數位相框的方式進行促銷，很make sense。有一個動態的展示平台可以吸引顧客的注意，還不用像以前一樣，各式的DM擺滿櫃檯前。

看來數位相框將來會有更多的用途啊。

奇文共欣賞

2008-06-04T21:59:00.005+08:00

註:
1.我是業主。
2.能夠收到這一篇奇文，雙方都有責任，但是系統開發商寫出這麼沒有專業的東西，真是奇文。也難怪本資訊專案難產。

鑒於軟體系統開發案，本質上即具有需要業主協力配合部分，故本案在契約變更後，須在雙方全力配合下，始能順利完成。若依業主要求之時程於明年底完成建置，本公司需業主配合事項如下：

有關業務流程再造作業, 因涉及業主組織運作，建議請業主於組織內先行完成整合明確訂定後，再提交本公司作為進行系統開發與建置之依據。
成立功能分析小組，由雙方派遣專人編成，集中作業，每次需求訪談時業主業務單位，資訊單位之小組成員均應同時出席。
各系統每週至少應安三天需求訪談，以密集之訪談方式執行，目前各子系統每週分配3小時。以XX子系統為例九個月共訪談50場次，共計25工作天但花費近一年時間，訪談時程冗長。
改變需求訪談模式，由業主依RFP所列功能提出說明，而非由本公司一再簡報。
業主應先訂定文件製作標準，本公司再據以製作文件。
測試情境的擬定由業主負責編制。
文件之審查應簡化，並相互訂定確認時間，例如每件 SA/SD 文件送請業主審查後，最遲應於10個工作天內完成審覆。
應用系統功能之查驗，應以雙方確認之系統分析及設計報告書所述之系統功能所展開之程式為基準，而不是以畫面之操作步驟來作為系統測試之基準。
配合次階段系統整合性分析和整體應用系統設計兩階段需求之一致性，請業主於各應用系統進行系統細部設計訪談與確認前，召開次階段系統設計的內部說明會議，以使參與人員具有相同認知。
由雙方派遣專人編成資料庫資料遷移小組，集中作業。
次階段應使用之系統軟體併入各年度硬體採購。

新的AP 只要WEB化就好了

2008-05-16T17:17:00.001+08:00

終於把一個原本2億兩年的專案在5年內做完。老闆捧著3000萬的預算，開始規劃下一個AP的開發。這個舊AP是公司內業務執行的重要AP，以Power Builder開發，從2000年上線到現在已經老舊不堪了。從當初開發的功能以後，配合業務單位的需求，功能修修補補已經不曉得蓋了多少違建。

老闆說，5年的專案做完了，獲得的教訓是不要做大；只有少少的3000萬，也沒有辦法做大，把目前的 AP的畫面與功能做成Web page 即可。呃，Power Builder 的AP要變成Java/.Net的MVC Web App真的只要照抄畫面與功能即可嗎？不需另外作新的分析設計？

老闆又說不要重做Business Analysis，從舊AP的功能開始SA規劃即可！那花2億做出來的東西與舊系統功能相重疊的地方怎麼辦？不與未來的AP做整合了嗎？現在AP的功能真的合乎目前與可預見的未來的業務需求嗎？

我好像又看到了組織獲得另外一個3000萬失敗教訓的機會。

Google Analytics 可以顯示當日即時的流量統計

2007-12-24T09:37:00.000+08:00

Google Analytics 終於有所謂的在地時間，及時流量分析了！這一小步，可是等了快半年啊。

由於Google公司在美國的加州，所以他的日期系統是以美西時間為準，也就是GMT-7:00。對台北(GMT+8:00)的使用者來說，過了15:00，才是Google Analytics與Google Adsense計算一天的開始(其他人的觀察與說明)。

Google Adsense以美西時間也就算了，反正只要收得到錢就好了。

可是Analytics卻很奇怪，他的流量統計是當地時間(以台北時間為準)的，可是就是得要過了15:00才能使用右上角的日期選擇選到今天。也就是說台灣的使用者，一定得過了15:00才能看到今天的流量分析。以追求速度的角度而言，這15個小時的時差還真久啊。

不過今天早上進入Analtytics查週末的流量，意外發現，可以看到右上角的日期選擇，不用過15:00就可以選今天了，呵呵，Analytics Team終於把這個小Bug給改掉了(參見上圖)。

自製國泰世華的網銀錯誤訊息

2007-06-30T19:06:00.000+08:00

從這裡看來的放罐頭的貨架: 登入網銀的訊息。

網路銀行的訊息內容放在URL上，只要你在URL的參數放妳想要看到字串即可顯示在畫面上。這是個很方便，但是很奇怪的設計。

台灣好像還沒有聽過，網路銀行被網路釣魚(Phishing)網站相中，一般民眾使用網路釣魚(Phishing)網站被詐騙的新聞。以這樣的設計，只要有不知情的民眾使用網路釣魚(Phishing)的國泰世華網銀，再導以這個畫面，就可以輕易的騙到民眾的網銀登入資料，到時候國泰世華電話就接不完了吧!!!

Google Reader 新功能 Trends

2007-06-28T09:42:00.000+08:00

這個新功能將Reader的使用者操作模式與訂閱(Feeds)做一些統計資料。
包括

1. 閱讀時間的統計資料
甚麼時候讀讀多少。

2. 使用者閱讀訂閱統計資料
最常讀的前 40 名。
最常分享的前 40 名。

3. 訂閱的統計資料
最常更新以及沒有更新的前 40 名。

4.Tag 的統計資料
將你訂閱分類標籤(tag)做類似標籤雲的顯示，一個分類標籤下的訂閱越多，這個分類標籤的就越大，這個非類標籤下你讀的文章越多，顏色就越深。

我覺得，這一些功能最重要的是，已經沒有更新的前 40 名訂閱資料。可以把懶惰的作者在訂閱裏剔除掉，節省每次登入的載入的間啊!

延伸閱讀
Google Reader新功能 - Personalized Trends

正體中文常見 BSP Feed 格式

2007-06-27T11:38:00.000+08:00

自從 Google 推出 Reader Beta 以後，我就只在 Google Reader 上看各 Blog 的內容。

不過看到好的部落格想要加入 Google Reader 中，有時候在頁面上東找西找都找不到這個部落格的 Feed，可以讓我在 Firefox 輕易的一按就 "Add to Google" ，這個情況尤其以 MSN Lives Space 的Blog最嚴重。

但是不斷的 "Add to Google" 的經驗告訴我，同一個 BSP會有同樣的 Feed 格式可以依循。所以就整理我 Reader 內常見的 Feed 格式，如果你在頁面上找不到 Feed button 或相關資訊，按照作者的 BSP(Blog Service Provider, 部落格平台提供者) 可以使用手動的方式加到你的Blog reader 上。

問過 Google 大神 Feed 格式有三種，Atom, RSS, rdf所以各大 BSP 應該都是以這些相關的取名，再以 http 通訊協定送交的。

(2007 Jun 27 更新)

Blogger
Article:http://blogname.blogspot.com/2007/01/article_name.html
Feed: http://blogname.blogspot.com/atom.xml

WordPress
Article:http://blogname.wordpress.com/2007/01/28/article_name/
Feed:http://blogname.wordpress.com/feed/

MSN Livespace
Article:http://blogname.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!D2E5BBC019BD9285!192.entry
Feed:http://blogname.spaces.live.com/feed.rss

Yahoo blog
Article:http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/blogname/article?mid=2513&prev=-1&next=2926
Feed:http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/blogname/rss

無名
Article:http://www.wretch.cc/blog/blogname&article_id=11535534 Feed:http://www.wretch.cc/blog/blogname&rss20=1

Hinet Xuite
Article:http://blog.xuite.net/blogname/categoty/9930269
Feed:http://blog.xuite.net/blogname/category/rss.xml

Yam/Web-TV
Article:http://blog.yam.com/blogname/article/7604578
Atom Feed:http://blog.yam.com/rss.php?blog_id=blogname&ver=atom03

Roodo
Article:http://blog.roodo.com/blogname/archives/2670873.html
Feed:http://blog.roodo.com/blogname/rss.xml

Sina/新浪
Article:http://blog.sina.com.tw/blogname/article.php?pbgid=234&entryid=301159
Feed:http://blog.sina.com.tw/234/feed.php?ver=rss&type=entry&blog_id=234

這個要注意到格主的Blog_id要不然也摸不到Feed。

Pixnet
Article:http://blog.pixnet.net/blogname/post/2127788
Feed:http://blog.pixnet.net/rss/rss20/104319
Comment Feed:http://blog.pixnet.net/rss/comment/104319

這個Feed URL最難捉摸了，格主沒有給你，你也找不到，Pixnet好像是用流水號幫大家建立Feed 。真是太酷了 ...。

註:後來發現的Comment Feed會給你本文Feed編號的線索Orz。

PayPass 再次促銷，送你喝茶

2007-04-16T10:59:00.001+08:00

詳情請見於此。又再一次的促銷活動，上一次咖啡沒喝夠，這一次試試冷泡茶吧。看來早餐，中餐又都會在萊爾富解決了。

可是促銷的新聞只有放在萬碁的網站，Paypass三大信用卡公司(上海、國泰世華、玉山)，台灣MasterCard主站，萊爾富的網站都沒有放促銷的新聞。好像為善不欲人知啊！

與黎智英面對面

2007-03-22T11:31:00.000+08:00

跟你面對面的可不是，全民大悶鍋裡邰智源模仿的「黎志英」，而是貨真價實的壹周刊，蘋果日報大老闆「肥佬黎」--黎智英。

詳情請參考這則報導與這則。不知道會有什麼驚人的消息呢？可不可以用普通話對談啊？大家試試看。

收到 FON AP 了

2007-01-18T10:55:00.000+08:00

縱然有之前的風風雨雨，今天終於收到快遞寄來的FON AP 了。
還沒有試用。等裝好了，用過再來寫一篇吧。

台灣軟體業的困境

2007-01-04T19:08:00.000+08:00

簡單的說，台灣的企業主沒有認知

「人才比設備重要，
軟體比硬體值錢」的話，

台灣的軟體業就還是只能趴在地上，任人宰割。

就醬！

PayPass 的失敗促銷活動

2006-12-16T17:17:00.000+08:00

前言

兩大信用卡集團Visa與Master的支付工具戰爭從信用卡(Visa vs Master)，電子錢(Visa Electron vs Mondex Cash)到感應式信用卡(Visa Wave vs Master PayPass)，互相卡位爭著進大家的錢包內。

台灣地區電子錢的爭戰，就我的日常生活觀察是Master略勝一籌。Visa Electron並沒有看到銀行在推，也不常見可以消費的場所，但是Modex Cash，化身為TAIWANMONEY卡，搶得南部七縣市的公共運輸交通工具的市場，發卡數應該是比Visa Electron來得多。不過TAIWANMONEY卡被宏碁，玉山與國泰吃下來不知道是好是壞，畢竟商人是要將本求利的，Mondex儲值與消費要經過好幾手的手續費(收單行，發卡銀行，Master，建置商)與台北的捷運悠遊卡只有一家的智慧卡公司坐收手續費不太一樣。再加上南部七縣市的商機畢竟不如台北市，TAIWANMONEY卡雖然沒有悠遊卡用途上的限(財政部限定只能用在交通相關消費)制，但是先天市場就比較小的情況下，不知道會不會成為一個不成功的商業案？或者廠商寄望的是未來高雄捷運數十萬張卡的商機呢？大家就等著看吧。

萊爾富超商真的是超商技術的先行者(像這項與那項)，它的網頁上說明接受部分商店接受信用卡付款，再加上與TAIWANMONEY卡的合作，也接受以電子錢包付款。由於TAIWANMONEY卡初次申請有促銷的活動，而且電子錢可以在萊爾富超商消費，再加上我高雄的老家附近有一家萊爾富的超商與偶爾坐公車的需求，我又已經是國泰信用卡的客戶，所以就申請了一張TAIWANMONEY卡來玩玩，成為行銷理論中的早期使用者。TAIWANMONEY卡入手以後，我才發現，這是一張三合一的卡片，Master信用卡，Mondex Cash(TAIWANMONEY)，與PayPass。

另外一方面，頂好超市導入PayPass的付款方式並且與上海商銀共推PayPass的信用卡。之前我已經是頂好超市聯名卡的客戶，趁著這一次的促銷活動也申請了一張PayPass卡來用。到手以後實地到頂好超市使用PayPass，結帳只要把鑰匙圈在感應器前晃過，就可以付帳了。而且個人認為比Visa Wave好用，因為PayPass的感應器上有文字說明，可以指引消費者的動作；Visa Wave就只有燈號，要結帳的人跟你說，你要幹嘛，比較容易失敗(老婆的說法)。

Visa Wave 藉著屈臣氏的導入以及信用卡與捷運悠遊卡合一的促銷，九月開始在電視中強打Visa Wave，推倒機車後買啤酒的廣告大家應該印象深刻。Master當然也不甘示弱，在無價系列男友約女友的廣告中嵌入以PayPass在頂好以及萊爾富超商購買的橋段。不過說實在的，如果你沒有PayPass卡的話，你只會認為這只是Master無價系列廣告中的一個，對PayPass這一項支付工具，應該是不會有印象才是(現在主打國外旅遊已經沒有男友約女友的廣告了)。

進入正題

時序進入11月，Master與萊爾富進行了新一波的促銷活動，使用PayPass消費送中價咖啡一瓶。公司旁剛好有一家萊爾富超商，原先以為可以在每天的早餐喝免費的咖啡，但是實地使用才知道不是哪麼回事。且聽我娓娓道來。

我一共去了以下9家店

	可信用卡消費	會正確操作paypass	有咖啡	兌換成功	附註
北市龍淵店	ˇ (2006/12/24 安裝)
北市安麗店	ˇ		ˇ	ˇ
北市羅斯福店	ˇ	ˇ	ˇ	ˇ
北縣永利店	ˇ	ˇ	ˇ	ˇ	有超多大頭狗磁鐵
北縣永貞店	ˇ		ˇ
北縣永任店	ˇ		ˇ
北縣飛達店	ˇ		ˇ	ˇ
北縣永和環河南店
鳳山高頂店	ˇ		ˇ	ˇ

境遇如下
1. 北市龍淵店

一定要第一個寫這一家店。因為我就是在午休吃完午餐後，在這一家店看到這一次的促銷活動，結果這家店，因為在十月底開幕，沒有安裝刷卡機，更別說PayPass感應器。但是據店員表示，該店有e通機耶!(真是給它有點-_-)。

從此以後，在路上都會注意哪裏有萊爾富超商。我要喝咖啡!

Update: 該店在2006/12/25安裝了 PayPass刷卡機，到po文為止為止，還沒有咖啡，無從測試起。

2.北市安麗店

這是我上班必經的店，在加油站前面。所以只要有加油經過，就會到店裡賣東西，拿咖啡。從11月初到11月中，總共去過三次，有咖啡，但是店員不會操作PayPass刷卡機。我手上的兩張卡，都無法感應到。讓我以為我的兩張卡片壞掉，跟信用卡公司詰問一番，拿兩張卡到頂好試刷，後來才發現是店員搞烏龍，店員操作收銀機時，使用電子錢交易，所以頂好的不可以用，但是我的TAIWANMONEY儲值金額又不夠支付我買的金額。

所以當第一次成功的拿到咖啡以後，又發現，原來店員把咖啡的錢算在信用卡帳單上了，>_<。這罐咖啡不是請客嗎?店員當場退給我現金差額。

還有一次去，發現沒有咖啡，就沒消費了，當場要店員要記得訂，明天來買。

確認卡沒有問題，店裡也有訂咖啡以後，十二月起就在這一家店消費拿了數瓶的咖啡。

3. 北市羅斯福店

這是第一家有完整 SOP的店。我的第一個大頭狗磁鐵，就是在這家店拿的。

時間是十一月下旬，店員刷了PayPass以後，刷活動的咖啡條碼，然後再刷卡簽單上蓋代收章，表示給我咖啡了。然後再給我ㄧ個Master的大頭狗磁鐵(完整SOP)。收到大頭狗磁鐵真是感動啊!

4.北縣永利店 (永利中正)

我到這家店去過兩次，十一月中與十二月底，第一次沒有刷卡成功，是店員不會操作。第二次，店員刷完以後，沒有給我大頭狗磁鐵，我主動向他要，哇!店裡還有
一大袋耶!厚臉皮跟店員多要了好幾個。

5.北縣永貞店 (永貞中正)

這家店去過兩次，十一月中與十二月底，兩次都沒有刷卡成功。這家店應該跟我八卦不和。

6.北縣永任店 (捷運永安市場對面)

這家店只去過一次，十一月初，店員不會操作刷卡機與收銀機。

7.北縣飛達店 (捷運永安市場北)

去過三次，打工的店員都求助店職員操作，好像他不會操作。只有店職員會。

8.北縣永和環河南店

去過兩次，十一月初沒有裝，十二月中仍然還沒有裝。

9.鳳山高頂店(鳳頂路上)

這就是我辦TAIWANMONEY卡的理由店，收完款，拿完咖啡以後才發現，店員用電子錢幫我結帳。嗯，這樣符合這一次的促銷規定嗎？

總結

我不知道行銷公司如何去評估一項新商品的行銷成效。整個活動，只有咖啡與大頭狗磁鐵(很重，吸力比7-11的多啦ㄟ夢或是Kitty貓好很多)感動了我。其他方面，我個人這個送咖啡行銷活動應該是失敗的。

首先個人認為新的無價系列廣告並未突顯出PayPass的容易使用的特性。

PayPass的使用者客群仍然太小，在加上萊爾富的普及性(與7-11比)，兩者相乘，基數變小，萊爾富就沒有感受PayPass的使用者
使用不方便的問題。連帶的大頭狗的磁鐵在各店堆積如山就不足為奇了。

TAIWANMONEY卡具有多卡合一的特性，萊爾富又支援電子錢交易與信用卡交易，收銀機上的設計是不同的按鍵。雖然使用者都是在感應器上感應卡片，一個生手如果沒有辦法區別支付的工具的不同，就會造成顧客買不到東西的窘境，或是用錯錢的問題，而偏偏超商的人力就是以生手的工讀生為多啊！

再來這樣的促銷活動沒有聯合發卡銀行做也是很奇怪，一直到十二月初才收到上海商銀的文宣( 如右圖)，截至po文為止還沒有收到國泰的文宣，好康的不讓持卡人知道，大家怎麼會去利用呢？還是這個促銷活動要花發卡銀行大錢，發卡銀行不會大聲嚷嚷？

延伸閱讀

卡好網
http://www.cardhow.com/cardhow/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=8262&sid=84de4e545386dbdb7f55ed81cfd9a9cd

TaiwanMoney 卡 http://chitsaou.wordpress.com/2006/10/01/taiwanmoney/

TaiwanMoney 的優點與缺點
http://chitsaou.wordpress.com/2006/10/28/taiwanmoney-advs-and-disadvs/

好樣的 TSE !!

2006-12-14T11:18:00.000+08:00

沒有用過 Oracle Application Server ...
TSE 肯定是愛用者　...

有圖有真像

按了一下登入Oracle Enterprise Manager
還好網頁沒有跳出來　...
要有的話　TSE 等者被打屁股吧　...

偷走你的腦袋 Cool

2006-11-03T13:21:00.000+08:00

引自 Stealing Scoble's Brain

原作者利用 Google Co-Op Search的功能
把某大網誌作家看的東西給偷過來
還有原始碼

大家可以試試看
做自己的 Search Engine

十大IT工程師

2006-11-02T16:58:00.000+08:00

IT greats: Top 10 greatest IT people
by Computer Weekly reporter

1. Steve Jobs: innovator who enjoyed a second bite of the apple
2. Tim Berners-Lee: father of the web and champion of IT freedom
3. Bill Gates: mixing maths and money to build microsoft
4. James Gosling : Mother of JAVA language
5. Linus Torvalds : Creater of Linux OS
6. Richard Stallman : GNU license, Free Software Fundation
7. Arthur C Clarke : Writer of 2001: A Space Odyssey and idea of GPS
8. Ted Codd : Set rules of database
9. Steve Shirley : pioneered new work practices
10. Martha Lane Fox : Funder of Lastminute.com and e-commerce pioneer

1. Steve Jobs: innovator who enjoyed a second bite of the apple

Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple Computer, topped the Computer Weekly 40th anniversary poll due to the devoted following he has generated through his pioneering work in personal computing and product design.

Jobs was born in 1955 in San Francisco, and during his high school years he showed his early enthusiasm for computing by attending after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California. He met fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak during a summer job at HP.

In the autumn of 1974, Jobs, who had dropped out of university after one term, began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Steve Wozniak. He took a job as a technician at Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games.

At the age of 21 Jobs saw a computer that Wozniak had designed for his own use and convinced his friend to market the product.

Apple Computer was founded as a partnership on 1 April 1976. Though the initial plan was to sell just printed circuit boards, Jobs and Wozniak ended up creating a batch of completely assembled computers, and entered the personal computer business.

Their second machine, the Apple II, was introduced the following year and became a huge success, turning Apple into an important player in the nascent personal computer industry.

In 1983 Apple launched the Lisa, the first PC with a graphical user interface – an essential element in making computing accessible to the masses. It flopped because of its prohibitive price, but the next year Apple launched the distinct, lower priced Macintosh and it became the first commercially successful GUI machine.

Despite his success in founding Apple, Jobs left following a boardroom row in 1985. But his influence on the computer industry did not end there.

Jobs moved on to found Next Computer, then in 1986 he bought little known The Graphics Group from Lucasfilm, which achieved global dominance in animated feature films during the 1990s, after being renamed Pixar.

Much of Next’s technology had limited commercial success, but it laid the foundation for future computing developments. The company pioneered the object-oriented software development system, Ethernet port connectivity and collaborative software. It was the Next interface builder that allowed Tim Berners-Lee to develop the original world-wide web system at Cern.

Without Jobs, Apple had stumbled. Market share fell while it struggled to release new operating systems. Its answer was to buy Jobs’ company Next, together with its innovative operating system, and welcome back its charismatic former CEO.

On returning to Apple, Jobs drove the company ever deeper into the consumer electronics and computing market, launching the iMac and iPod.

Whether Jobs’ next creation changes the world like the Apple II, or turns out to bomb like the Apple Lisa, his place in computing history is guaranteed.

2. Tim Berners-Lee: father of the web and champion of IT freedom

Dotcoms, bloggers and Google all have one man to thank for their place in the 21st century world. In 1990,Tim Berners-Lee made the imaginative leap to combine the internet with the hypertext concept, and the worldwide web was born.

Born in 1955 in London, Berners-Lee’s parents were both mathematicians who were employed together on the team that built the Manchester Mark I, one of the earliest computers.

After attending school in London, Berners-Lee went on to study physics at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he built a computer with a soldering iron, TTL gates, an M6800 processor and an old television. While at Oxford, he was caught hacking with a friend and was subsequently banned from using the university computer.He worked at Plessey Telecommunications from 1976 as a programmer and in 1980 began working as an independent contractor at the European nuclear research centre Cern.

In December 1980, Berners-Lee proposed a project based on the concept of hypertext, to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers. While there, he built a prototype system called Enquire.

He joined Cern on a full-time basis in 1984 as a fellow. In 1989, Cern was the largest internet node in Europe, and Berners-Lee saw an opportunity. “I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the TCP and DNS ideas,” he said, and the worldwide web was born.

He wrote his initial proposal in March of 1989, and in 1990, with the help of Robert Cailliau, produced a revision which was accepted by his manager, Mike Sendall.

He used similar ideas to those underlying the Enquire system to create the worldwide web, for which he designed and built the first web browser and editor (called World-wide Web and developed on Nextstep) and the first web server called Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon (HTTPD).

The first website built was at http://info.cern.ch/ and was put online on 6 August 1991. The URL is still in use today. It provided an explanation of the worldwide web, how one could own a browser and how to set up a web server. It was also the world’s first web directory, since Berners-Lee maintained a list of other websites.

In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It comprised various companies willing to create standards and recommendations to improve the quality of the web.

Berners-Lee made his ideas available freely, with no patent and no royalties due. He is now the director of W3C, a senior researcher at MIT’s CSail, and professor of computer science at Southampton University.

3. Bill Gates: mixing maths and money to build microsoft

As joint founder of the world’s biggest software company, Microsoft, Bill Gates’s approach to technology and business was instrumental in making technology available to the masses.

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington in 1955 to a wealthy family: his father was a prominent lawyer and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate Bank and The United Way.

At school Gates excelled in mathematics and the sciences and by the age of 13 he was deeply engrossed in software programming.

With other school mates he began programming and bug fixing for the Computer Center Corporation, and in 1970 Gates formed a venture with fellow school student and Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters using the Intel 8008 processor.

In 1973, Gates enrolled at Harvard University, where he met future business partner Steve Ballmer. Their first venture was to develop a version of the Basic programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first microcomputers.

Soon afterwards Gates left Harvard to found “Micro-Soft”, which later became Microsoft Corporation, with Allen. Microsoft took off when Gates began licensing his MS-Dos operating systems to manufacturers of IBM PC clones. Its drive to global dominance continued with the development of Windows, its version of the graphical user interface, as an addition to its Dos command line.

By the early 1990s, Windows had driven other Dos-based GUIs like Gem and Geos out of the market. It performed a similar feat with the Office productivity suite.

Gates fought hard to establish Microsoft’s dominant position in the software industry and has fought even harder to defend it. His ability to get Microsoft software pre-installed on most PCs shipped in the world made Microsoft the world’s largest software house and Gates one of the world’s richest men. It also meant Microsoft found itself on the wrong end of anti-trust legislation in both the US and Europe.

Gates stood down as chief executive of Microsoft in 2000 to focus on software development and on 16 June 2006, he announced that he would move to a part-time role with Microsoft in 2008 to focus on his philanthropic work.

Since 2000, Gates has given away about £15.5bn, a third of his wealth, to charity. Such is his fame in the world outside computing,fictional Gates characters have appeared in cartoons including the Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy.

4. James Gosling

Of your choice of the most influential people in IT, James Gosling is the true geek. Unlike Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, neither of whom finished college, Gosling completed a PhD in computer science and contributed to software innovation at a technical level.

Born in 1955 near Calgary, Canada, Gosling is best known as the father of the Java programming language, the first programme language designed with the internet in mind and which could adapt to highly distributed applications.

Gosling received a BSc in computer science from the University of Calgary in 1977, and while working towards his doctorate he created the original version of the Emacs text editor for Unix (Gosmacs). He also built a multi-processor version of Unix, as well as several compilers and mail systems before starting work in the industry.

In 1984, Gosling joined Sun Microsystems, where he is currently chief technology officer in the developer product group.

In the early 1990s, Gosling initiated and led a project code-named Green that eventually became Java. Green aimed to develop software that would run on a variety of computing devices without having to be customised for each one.

Although much of the technology developed as part of Green never saw the light of day, Gosling realised that some of the underlying principles they had created would be very useful in the internet age.

Sun formally launched Java in 1995. Gosling did the original design of Java and implemented its original compiler and virtual machine. For this achievement he was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering. He has also made major contributions to several other software systems, such as Newa and Gosling Emacs.

Although some critics say Java has not lived up to its initial "write-once-run-anywhere" claim, Gosling's success in the Computer Weekly polls is precisely because Java has allowed the creation of robust, reusable code which runs on devices as diverse at mobile phones, PCs and mainframes.

5. Linus Torvalds

As the creator of the Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds has been a driving force behind the whole open source movement, which represents not only an ever increasing challenge to proprietary software, but is also the inspiration for the industry to move to open standards.

Torvalds remains the ultimate authority on what new code is incorporated into the Linux kernel.

6. Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman is the founder of the GNU Project, an initiative to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software. Stallman has written several popular tools, created the GNU licence and campaigns against software patents.

7. Arthur C Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey writer Arthur C Clarke has consistently been ahead of his time in predicting how technology will change the world. Most notably, in 1945 he suggested that geostationary satellites would make ideal telecoms relays.

8. Ted Codd

Ted Codd created 12 rules on which every relational database is built - an essential ingredient for building business computer systems.

9. Steve Shirley

Steve Shirley was an early champion of women in IT. She founded the company now known as Xansa, pioneered new work practices and in doing so created new opportunities for women in technology.

10. Martha Lane Fox

With Brent Hoberman, Martha Lane Fox created Lastminute.com in 1998, and as "the face" of Lastminute raised the profile of e-commerce ever higher in the public consciousness.