Revealed: Tech titans of the past 25 years

Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, was selected by 73 percent of voters, according to CompTIA.

Jobs and Apple are enjoying a fantastic run of form at the moment, driven primarily by the success of the iPod. But things haven't always gone his way. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors, he resigned from Apple in 1985. He eventually returned in 1997 following the acquisition by Apple of Next, another company Jobs had founded.

Jobs's powers of persuasion are sometimes referred to as his "reality distortion field".