Jobs Takes Action as Loss of Talent Continues

Since the beginning of time, artists have signed their work. "It's a symbol of pride in one's accomplishments," as one Apple Employee puts it. "A well-written piece of software is as much a work of art as a Renaissance painting." In the early 1980's, Apple engineers, including Steve Jobs, would even have their signatures inscribed in the moldings of the inner portions of the Macintosh's enclosure.

Back then, Steve Jobs believed that all great artists should sign their work. But times have changed, apparently, as last week Jobs sent an internal memo to all employees notifying them of a new policy that bans engineers from including their names in the "About Box" credits of any piece of Apple Software, documentation, or hardware design.

The memo reads as follows:

While Jobs attempts to justify the new policy by citing unfairness, sources within Apple's management branch say the move was fueled by continuous successful attempts by Apple's competition to lure talented engineers away from Apple. "Jobs believes that by placing their names in the credits, engineers are announcing themselves to outside corporations who may seek their expertise," one source said. "Even as Apple is now beginning to prosper once again, the company continues to lose key engineers to other corporations offering better incentives every week."

Jobs hopes that by removing the credits in Apple products, the competition will have a more difficult time pinpointing those individuals whom they hope to acquire, as they will not know their names.

Over the past week, several Apple employees have expressed their disapproval of the new policy, and you can't blame them. For the past two years Apple employees have slowly been restricted of many freedoms. Word even has it that certain employees are banned from sending e-mail to Apple News and Rumor sites from their Apple.com e-mail accounts by a series of mail filters at the host. To put it in the words of a more verbal Apple employee, "I feel like I'm on a college campus and the University is trying to enforce the no drinking policy. But you know what, we're going to drink anyway."