In 2013, Redmonk analyst Steven O’Grady positioned application developers as the new kingmakers. It was a role that enterprise IT had served since the rise of business-driven computing. First, systems administrators held the keys to the kingdom by having the (then) esoteric knowledge of the operating system - but as Linux took hold in the late 90s/early 00s, the applications, not the OS, took center stage. This made developers the unlikely “voice behind the throne” in a CxO monarchy. But we’re looking at another shift in royalty fabrication with the continued velocity of generative AI