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"Ever since the return of Steve Jobs, [Apple] has been pretty maniacal about micro-managing its visible face, to make it as smooth and featureless as an iPod's backside," ex-Apple engineer Jens Alfke writes on his blog, explaining why he left the company. He goes on to say that Apple should make its engineers feel like rock stars. You know, like it used to.

It wasn't always this way. Apple was very open in the beginning, and treated the members of the original Mac team like rock stars, complete with photo layouts in Rolling Stone. Their signatures were engraved in the inside of the computer's case. Nowadays, unless you're a vice president, the only time Apple consents to show your name is if you give a talk at the Worldwide Developers Conference, a rather pricey annual event.