While in theory this seems like a good idea when it comes to implementing the plan home owners would be chasing their own tails.

Make sure you have a lawyer look at your situation first, but should also have a solid business plan before embarking on venture like this. While I'm no fan of "over-hyped sales drones" you need to step back and objectively ask yourself who is going to secure the customer base for your product. While you may be good writing code, can you sell a product or do you know what to look for in hiring someone? Likewise, who is going to take on the role of project, and maybe staff, manager? Then you need to start thinking about payroll and healthcare. It takes more than writing good code for even a small software company to be successful--you'll probably find yourself gaining a lot of respect for the people you were previously complaining about.

"The person is lying, no one forces you to sign anything. Employment is at will, if you don't like it negotiate it or don't sign it."

From personal experience, the situation is often more complex than this. In my previous job the company was growing quickly and HR was not in place to cope. One year later a new head of HR reviewed everyone's file and required some employees to sign a new non-complete. At that point it would have been *very* hard for me to go back to freelancing and build up my old client base. I was also in management so refusing would have been awkward to say the least.

Two years go by and I was taking a job at another company working for one of my previous employer's clients. In my city about 50% of companies in the industry work for this client. I didn't maintain any key relationships nor was I stealing any secrets but I got slapped with the non-complete. Lucky for me, the new employer stuck their best lawyers on it to review the merits of the case and sided with me.

It's very hard to get out of signing a non-complete, or altering it, unless you have a strong position of negotiation (read: they need you more than you need them). Imagine you've accepted a job, told your employer, and then you learn you need to sign one. Imaging you have a job and are asked to after a period of employment. Imagine you're trying to break into the industry, or got laid off, and this is your first job offer in four months.

It's not so cut and dry-- I wish our government would do more to protect Joe the Developer's rights to "live liberty and the pursuit of happiness". I also take offense that you think someone who's a EVP, or pulls six figures, could be significantly hurt monetarily but this. Do you know for a fact that Apple is paying his legal bills? It's the individual getting sued in most cases and the result could seriously devastate his professional career.