every so often, even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

no more no less. The author of the article has been allegedly working on a hack book on Jobs for some time.

The worst kind of sensationalism journalism.

All of us fan boys should flame them in every way possible.

Jobs had pancreatic cancer. Jobs' also a vegan, right. Seems obvious. A vegan lifestyle will give you pancreatic cancer!

Off to the local burger joint, people!

why this is being posted here is because it's part of an article Fortune just published concerning Jobs. They originally had intended the article to be a dissection (and condemnation) of the options backdating scandal, but that went nowhere, since by all accounts Apple acted in good faith. So the author did what he could to make the article titillating and the suggestion that there should have been public disclosure of Jobs' cancer is the closest he could come to finding something.

Frankly, I think this reflects far more poorly on the author and Fortune than it does on Jobs. In a perfect world, a CEO who personifies and motivates his company as much as Jobs does would issue a press release about a life-threatening illness and undertake steps to address the life-threatening illness as soon as possible. But Jobs isn't your usual CEO, he had a strong desire to keep this to himself, and it sounds like he very much wanted to avoid the surgery in the first place. Understandable to anyone with an ounce of empathy, which Fortune and the author obviously utterly lack, since they so desperately wanted to make this very private info public.

Frankly, the Fortune article kind of disgusts me. Jobs is far from perfect - I suspect he's a total d*** in person and I'd personally starve before working for him - but there is absolutely no question that he is incredibly good at his job, and his success as a CEO should leave any thinking person speechless. As a longtime Apple stockholder, I trust him to increase shareholder value far more than I trust Fortune to give me any useful information to judge his worth.

Jobs looks to have lost a lot of weight in his last keynote when compared with the previous ones. And to me, this isnt a good sign at all. For Jobs, and for the rest of us Apple fanbois.

It's a company. It would survive (albeit not as well) without him. His own personal health is his own business and he isn't obligated to publicize it. Frankly, I find the suggestion otherwise to be completely offensive.

I fully agree with zaghahzag -- Steve's health is his own personal affair, he has a perfect right to have tried other options before surgery. There was absolutely no obligation on Steve's or Apple's part to publicise this, and the author is just trying to invent a new scandal.

Speaking for myself, I'm just very grateful that everything worked out well for him. Getting "the other kind" of pancreatic cancer would have been a devastating blow to his family, his friends, his customers and, yes, the world at large.

Actually the reason Steve didn't want the surgery is because this was leaked at Think Secret and after that Steve refused to have the surgery until the situation was farther explained.

I read the article this morning when it came out and really, it was pretty weak tea. Shorter version: Jobs can be a huge a******, he's a bit of a control freak, he occasionally engages in misdirection, and he's often right.

In other words, he's a typical super-successful CEO and a corporate/high tech/Hollywood superstar. He's virtually scandal-free. In an age of Enron, MCI Worldcom and other similar scandals like Tyco where the CEO and his posse outright looted the company, you could do a lot worse than Jobs.

However, zaghahzag, I think that a CEO's health is of interest to shareholders, particularly at a company so dependent on a guy like Jobs. Jobs chose to keep it secret and he got lucky, in several ways. If he had died, then it would have been considered a monumentally stupid decision to keep his illness private. He didn't die, no disruption to Apple's business or stock price, and so it looks like a smart decision.

FWIW pancreatic cancer is the same (general) type that the "last lecture" professor Randy Pausch has and that it was announced today that Patrick Swayze has as well.

As I understand it, it's a very serious form of cancer.

W

Bill Gates kept his terminal brain tumor a secret for 25 years. Now the world knows why he's such a douchbag that makes a c*** operating system and pushes it like a megalomaniac. Sadly, the terminal part hasn't kicked in yet.

I am a late stage cancer patient currently undergoing what allopathic docs would deem a "special diet" alternative treatment protocol. I have to laugh because it seems that if it went through the mouth to some of these docs, it is "diet". They can be so narrow-minded.

I applaud Steve for how he handled his cancer situation. It took raw courage.

The greatest shortcoming (IMHO) of allopathic medicine is that it ignores that there could be more to one's recovery from disease than drugs alone. Anyone ever hear about mind, body, and spirit? I went through chemo orientation where I was offered soda pop, Hershey's Kisses, and Dunkin' Donuts for refreshments. When I noticed the blatant omission in the presentation regarding any role for exercise and diet, I left - in a hurry. Seemed the whole message was; give us your arm and 3 hours every couple of weeks and we'll do our best so you don't have to do anything else. You'll be able to resume your old life just like cancer never happened. Hello? What do you think caused cancer in the first place? A "balanced" life and lifestyle? Hardly!

The author of the article, Peter Elkind, owes Steve an apology, IMHO.