Top ten biggest egos in technology

5. Mark Zuckerberg

Shaun Nichols: At an age where most of us were watching bootlegged episodes of the Simpsons and building pyramids from empty beer cans, Mark Zuckerberg was making himself a billionaire as the head of Facebook. Can you really blame the kid if he has a big head?

Zuckerberg's ability to sell his company and audience on his product and vision has been likened to some of the older generation of entrepreneurs; a 21st-century Steve Jobs in a fleece pull-over and sandals.

Zuckerberg's youthful arrogance has also made him the target for criticism when his company messes up. When Facebook launched its controversial Beacon programme, Zuckerberg took much of the heat. Later, when the company's terms and conditions drew the wrath of users, Zuckerberg again had to take shots from those who accused him of being too aloof and out of touch with what users really want.

Iain Thomson: Zuckerberg is a classic case of too much too young. Facebook was the media darling for a year and I think he began to believe his own press coverage.

It must have been hard to maintain a level head under the circumstances. If you're barely out of your teens, not exactly a looker and suddenly the world is beating a path to your door it's going to give you ego problems.

The Beacon example was a case in point. He seemed to think that users wouldn't mind sharing their buying habits, since they were sharing everything else on Facebook. He blustered and fumed and then had to back down. It has taught him some humility, but not much.

4. Carly Fiorina

Iain Thomson: Carly Fiorina came into one of the most male dominated organisations in Silicon Valley and changed it - sadly not for the better I feel.

I remember first seeing her speak. My goodness, it was a brilliant performance. She took a floor of hostile HP geeks and enthused them to such an extent that she got a standing ovation at the end and, I'm willing to bet, haunted the dreams of more than a few of them.

But Fiorina became obsessed with making her mark, and the HP/Compaq merger was the result. She took one great company and one OK one and merged them, destroying both in the process. While HP may now be the number one in the PC industry the company has lost its soul and it now stands pre-eminent in an industry that's dying by degrees.

Instead of trying to be the biggest she should have focused on being the best. HP missed a crucial opportunity to lead the pack in the field of laptops - the short term future of computing. Her domineering attitude alienated some of the best tech minds in the company and she was left with a hollow victory and so many enemies that she was forced out and is now reduced to a career trying to get into politics. Given the mistakes she made in John McCain's campaign I'm not holding out too much hope there.

Shaun Nichols: Carly Fiorina's failings are numerous and well-documented, from the Compaq merger to the boardroom spying cases, she made her share of mistakes.

But she also deserves major credit for her perseverance in an industry that was and still is in many areas horribly male-dominated. Fiorina not only took control at a high level of business that is absolutely dominated by hot-shot business types with huge egos, she did so with the handicap of corporate sexism pushing back against her. This would indicate that Fiorina herself carried around an ego that put the boys to shame.

It will be interesting to see how she does in her career as a politician. If Fiorina thought that pushing a multi-billion dollar merger through a Silicon Valley boardroom was dirty work, wait until she sees what a California Senate election is like.

3. Steve Ballmer

Shaun Nichols: Steve Ballmer is seen by many as the Darth Vader of the technology business, a role he seems to be very content with.

Every time the cameras are rolling, Ballmer seems determined to do something memorable. The Microsoft chief executive doesn't suffer from insanity on the stage, he enjoys every minute of it. Whether his infamous 'on your feet' dance or his memorable 'developers' tirade, Steve Ballmer does not have any problem with doing things to get people talking.

Every great drama needs a bad guy, and Steve Ballmer has been more than happy to take the role. So long as his company continues to make money and generate headlines, Ballmer should be thrilled to play the villain.

Iain Thomson: Ballmer is first and foremost a salesmen, and you need a big ego to survive in that trade.

However Ballmer's ego seems large even by the standards of his profession. He seems to think that sheer force of will will get him what he wants. There have been reports of his style, which includes breaking office furniture and screaming in the face of his employees, that speak of a big ego.

But what makes it worse is the Microsoft kool aid. Microserfs are a strange bunch, pathologically loyal in the most part and convinced they work for the best company in the world. Add that to Ballmer's ego and you've a killer combination.

2. Larry Ellison

Iain Thomson: Given my druthers I would have put Ellison at the number one spot, but Shaun's arguments won out.

Ellison has an ego the size of Texas, and he doesn't care who knows it. He's the highest paid tech chief executive in the industry, and you know he justifies it to himself by the repeated assurances that he's simply the best person out there.

In fact Ellison got where he is by having a good idea and then using every means possible to make sure he got to the top. Whether it be in flying or business he holds the attitude that rules are something that happens to other people and by money and force of will he's proved it to be true.

He strikes me as a person who wants to bend the world to his rules, and will do anything to make it so. To some that's an admirable quality. Personally I think it speaks of deeper problems below the surface.

Shaun Nichols: If I could have a beer with any Silicon Valley legend, it would be Woz. But if I could fly out to Vegas for the weekend with any Silicon Valley legend, Larry Ellison would be the guy. He's the sort of guy that obviously knows where to get the best of everything and how to enjoy it to the fullest. Outside of Paul Allen, I can't think of any other figure in IT who has been so successful while still keeping a healthy work/leisure balance in his life.

He's also a hell of a businessman. While Microsoft, Apple and Google get more publicity, no company has succeeded more spectacularly for a longer period of time than Oracle. Ellison obviously hit the market at the absolute perfect time, but he also did a great job of managing the company, staying focused on core products and not making the mistake of trying to do too much too soon.

1. Steve Jobs

Shaun Nichols: If there was any debate over who would be at the top of this week's list, it was over in about five seconds. How do you not recognise an ego so powerful it can distort reality?

Jobs is very good at what he does, and he most certainly knows it. While the engineers and developers get their due, you know that virtually every release from Apple, be it a new iPod or just a TV ad, has Steve Jobs fingerprints all over it.

To have this level of control over a company, one also has to have supreme confidence in his own abilities. Those who have worked with Jobs will attest to his ability to slam anything he doesn't believe in and tirelessly sell his own ideas to others. Reporters who spoke with Jobs back in the 80s when he still gave interviews say that he was constantly asking what was being said about him, both good and bad.

Perhaps the greatest contradiction about Jobs is just how fiercely he guards his private life.

While fellow business icons Richard Branson, Larry Ellison and Mark Cuban make their leisure pursuits public business, the rest of the world would be very hard pressed to know just what Jobs does when he leaves the office. No other person in the business is as visible within his company and invisible outside of it as Steve Jobs.

Iain Thomson: Silicon Valley historian Robert Cringely has a theory about Steve Jobs that he got from a senior Apple executive. Jobs is an orphan the theory goes, and he's convinced that if he makes a big enough noise his real parents will come back and admit they were wrong to give him up.

I've got some doubts about this. I think Jobs is the classic egotist, who feels that he knows what is right and the rest of the world should just shut up and let him get on with it. The rest of the world on the other hand disagrees.

He's thrown his toys out of the pram on more than one occasion and shows a sense of spite that would shame an eight year old. On the other hand he's made Apple into a powerhouse in the computing world. Maybe Shaun is right, with great ability comes great ego.