> I don't have any software developer in that list. RMS changed the world by an idea that became a movement — but it would go no where it he didn't attach them

> I don't have any software developer in that list. RMS changed the world by an idea that became a movement — but it would go no where it he didn't attach them to some excellent software, practicing the idea throught [cue Ghandi "be the change..."]. Jimmy Wales changed the world, again by idea + software. Diffie & Hellman changed the world, in a much more fundamental way. The possibility of end-to-end security didn't visibly touch people the way Wikipedia did, yet it put all our lives on a different track. OK, that was scientific discovery, not programming but it's way closer to programming than to political speeches. Bitcoin changed the world, again idea + software. It's unclear at this moment if a cryptocurrency changes it much — or for better — but the very fact that it's here, without anybody's permission, is novel. The very ideas that building stuff can change the world — and that giving it away maximizes your impact — are a major change in the world! [gross simplifications and omissions in all of the above.]