I spent way too long trapped in an internal debate of which was the more famous Seattle company: Starbucks or Microsoft.<p>I settled on the caveat that while Microsoft had undoubtedly affected more people and had a greater impact on the world, their corporate brand really doesn't approach the ubiquity of Starbucks'. (Some of my teachers in high school thought Windows was its own company, which I suspect to be a relatively common misconception.)
Wish it described how it quantified fame. Looking at Texas and seeing "Dr. Pepper" instead of "ExxonMobil". Second rate soft drink brand trumps one of the top ten companies in the entire world in market cap and revenue? I realize it may not be easy to quantify fame, but it makes all the other choices suspect.