Top 10 Tech Newsmakers of 2010

2010 was yet another wild ride in the IT world. The year gave us a slew of major news—from landmark product launches, to game-changing acquisitions, to some of the worst technological terror threats ever seen. And through it all, a number of tech heavyweights found the time to use their fortunes to influence positive change around the world. The WikiLeaks scandal certainly owned the headlines at the tail-end of the year. Before that, Mark Hurd’s ouster from HP—and his subsequent hiring by Oracle—captivated the IT industry. Major ongoing trends like botnet threats, the consumerization of IT, and the uneven recovery dominated the headlines in between. Our criteria for the top newsmakers of the year are similar to those behind Time’s Person of the Year award — which went to a techie, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, incidentally – in that we look at those who shaped the news, for better or for worse; just because we name you doesn’t mean we love you. Here’s our take on IT’s good, bad and ugly newsmakers of 2010.