Adam Takes the Fifth! The findings of the annual MDJ Power 25 survey are out, and this year the industry insiders who participate in the polling placed TidBITS's publisher Adam Engst fifth in the list of people who wield the most influence and power in the Macintosh industry. This is Adam's fifth consecutive placement in the top five vote-getters, and Adam is still the only member of the top five who doesn't work for Apple Computer. As in years past, the MDJ Power 25 tends to favor Apple executives and employees: 14 of the 25 positions were awarded to Apple, with CEO Steve Jobs, Executive VP Tim Cook, Software Engineering VP Bertrand Serlet, and VP of industrial design Jonathan Ive filling the top four slots. However, the 2004 list was not without its surprises: Apple's de facto #2 man Tim Cook wasn't even ranked in 2002 or 2003, Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg climbed to a #7 ranking, and Macworld's editorial director Jason Snell sprang off the "honorable mention" list to a #11 placement. Also surprising: Avie Tevanian dropped to #10 (largely in favor of Bertrand Serlet), Apple's Phil Schiller didn't make the list this year, and the only third-party developers to earn slots were Microsoft (Bill Gates and MacBU Manager Roz Ho) and Allume's Jonathan Kahn. [GD]

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