Intellectual Property Rights and Confidentiality agreements.

Here is an area where I wish I was more knowledgeable. I know that they exist, and when I worked as an outsourcer for Hewlett Packard at Stream International I signed one one time. I no longer work for them and the date of the end of my employ there is one of my few chronological anchors - May of 1999. The agreement was one all HP employees have to sign, and if you refuse you are not eligible for their employment. In short, ALL ideas you have, whether work related or not, become property of the company - you can't quit to start your own business. If you have any idea to start one you can't quit, so you have to quit before you have any hope of future business ideas. I don't know what company hires ex-HP employees, but I feel for permanent employees. I would be interested if Microsoft has any similar rules.