Goldman had the idea for the new research facility. Pake was the man he hired to run it, and Taylor was in charge of the computer science labs in the heyday of PARC's efforts.

The result was breakthrough research and development in everything from laser printers to graphical user interfaces. Even more, management at Parc allowed for the freedom and open-mindedness that has since become the calling-card for nearly every big company to come out of Silicon Valley.

It's fairly safe to say that much of the computing world in its current form would not exist had these three men not founded that little research center in California.

Iain Thomson: I think these men are heroes not so much for coming up with the idea of PARC, but that they managed to secure the funding for it in the first place and then ran it so well. PARC has become a template for ideas factories around the world.

They recognised that if you want really good ideas you don't get them by sitting people in cubicles and bullying them to come up with something with impossible targets. People think best when they are relaxed and can refine their concepts by sensible debate and ideas-sharing among like minded people.

The innovations from PARC are manifold, and Apple in particular has benefited immensely from them. Truly they are heroes of IT.

It's what he did after 123 that counts. Many software moguls, having cashed out, sit on their cash and find new ways to spend it (I'm looking at you Paul Allen) or plough it into new companies. Mitch did something else; he made a difference.

He used some of the cash to set up the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) with John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore. The EFF is now the watchmen of your online rights and an important force in keeping governments and companies honest and above board. We have a lot to thank the EFF for.

Kapor also ploughed money into the Mozilla Foundation, which produces the fabulous Firefox browser. Firefox forced Microsoft to restart development of Internet Explorer and is an important tool in making open source software more accessible to all.

OK, it hasn't all been good; Kapor's involvement in Second Life creators Linden Lab is something I wish he'd stayed out of, but all in all he is a true IT hero.

Shaun Nichols: If you're one of those people that advocates net neutrality, dislikes heavy-handed use of the DMCA for video takedowns, or doesn't like having to deal with overbearing DRM protections, then you owe a debt to Mitch Kapor and the EFF.

The group has not only been fighting for the rights of web consumers, but has made extensive use of the Freedom of Information Act to put more government data on the web and keep those in power accountable to citizens.

Then there's Mozilla. After the death of Netscape it seemed like we were all destined to be stuck with IE and its shortcomings for a long time. While Kapor doesn't deserve as much credit for fixing that situation as the numerous developers who wrote and organized Firefox and other Mozilla projects, he most certainly deserves recognition for backing the project.

Mitch Kapor is a nice example of how even philanthropists need to be savvy investors. By putting his money into ambitous, yet practical, efforts Kapor was able to connect himself to some of the most successful non-profit projects in recent memory.