There are lots of terms to a non-compeate agreement. Many of them aren't enforcable because of conflicting clauses. Usually, if a company no longer provides support for a product, the the non-compeate goes out the window since the company is no longer doing business in the same field. There are also terms as to what type of work someone can do in a compeating company. A programmer who worked for a company may not be able to work for a competitor as a programmer, but they can work in an other non-technical capacity. A competitor can also buy out a non-compeate from the company in order for the employee to begin work. All that said, if I were one of the CL employees, I'd collect my unemployment for a few weeks before I considered anything. These guys have been through a tough period, and need a break. Some of them are staying on as consultants or "partners" with a different footing with the company, so starting a new company isn't feasable. I'd also make sure my last check had all my back pay, vacation pay, comp time pay, and severence, and that the check cleared. Failure on any of those can nullify a non-compeate. Boy, these threads do grow and change. One announcement from CL, and we've already started to plan Kupa and Larry's lives for them. Maybe we should give them a few moments to get themselves together, after all, they're part of the herd now.