CNBC Poll: What's the Key Driver of the Tech Sector

Depending on whom you ask, Facebook is the most important development in information technology since well, er, Google . Then again, the near decade-long rebound of Apple

to almost untouchable status gives one pause. Cisco? It does,afterall, power the Internet, and the video revolution. Amazon? Microsoft? 'Twas a time, maybe.

In a way, it depends whom you ask. Twenty-something. Boomer.

In the investing world, it's easy to think of companies — or individual stocks — rather than businesses as game changers, but a company's proprietary technology casts a big shadow, whether it is the number of outright imitators or the various subcontractors and/or partners.

Then there is technology like cloud computing, for which no one company can easily take credit, but which has showered many with fat profits and good publicity.

So, you tell us: Which area is more important to the overall success of the tech sector?