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Can someone speculate as to why Jobs would have been opposed to this? The only thing I can come up with is that Jobs was trying to minimize the amount of times
by _greim_ 13y ago
Can someone speculate as to why Jobs would have been opposed to this? The only thing I can come up with is that Jobs was trying to minimize the amount of times that "I know a guy at Google" was spoken in the halls of Apple.
- evan_ 13y agoHe might not have wanted engineers to carry knowledge of Apple's programs and projects to a competitor.
- brianpgordon 13y agoPerhaps because they were good engineers, and they would turn a profit for his competitor (Google). If you could make an important decision for your competitor, wouldn't you try to undermine them?
- coldtea 13y agoIsn't it obvious that this is related to the culture of silency around future products at Apple? He wouldn't want Google to know "hey, we're making a new thing called the iPad/whatever and it's like so and so".
- mynameisvlad 13y agoIt's not like Google would know. Those engineers signed NDAs and non-competes, just like practically everyone in the tech world.
- Nursie 13y agoNDAs are fine, but non-competes? You have to be kidding. They're of questionable legality and amount to an agreement to not use your one of your more valuable assets - domain knowledge. No thanks!
- hga 13y agoIn California, unenforceable for the likes of us. After long thought (years, really), I'm convinced that this is the real secret to Silicon Valley's long running success. It's certainly the only thing totally unique about California WRT to high tech.
- anonymousDan 13y agoThis occurred to me after about 1 week of working in a software company! It's so obvious, I wish we could get similar laws through here in the UK.
- Nursie 13y agoThe easy way in the UK is to refuse... Have you had non-compete clauses? I've been in UK software roles for the last 15(ish) years but never really had a non-compete... always assumed it wouldn't really fly here. A quick search on the web says this is a grey area - in the UK non-competes are only ever enforcable if the business can prove loss beyond simply increased competition. A generic non-compete seems worthless.
- anonymousDan 13y agoNot so much non-competes, but restrictions on working on side projects while employed at a company, even if on my own time and with my own resources and on something not directly related to the companies area of business. Tbf, I'm still quite young and have only worked for one company, and so wasn't in much of a position to negotiate when I interviewed.
- daniel-cussen 13y agoHaving read his biography, I strongly doubt the reason was something anyone else would find defensible. I'm not even sure he felt it was defensible. Pretty sure it's yet another one of his "asshole" moves, the likes of which fill the book.