Jobs back to work as Apple chief executive

Apple Computer Chief Executive Steve Jobs has quietly returned to work full time after taking a leave of absence to recover from cancer surgery. Jobs has been participating in high-level staff meetings over the past month and corresponding by e-mail with analysts and Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak. "All I can say is that he was in excellent spirits,'' wrote Wozniak in an e-mail when asked about his old friend.

Those expecting the intensely private Jobs to offer an Oprah-worthy glimpse into his battle with a rare but treatable form of pancreatic cancer will be disappointed. Employees and others who have had dealings with Jobs since his return say he never acknowledges his illness or recovery. He is the same old Steve and just as intensely driven as before. Jobs, 49, discussed his brush with mortality in an e-mail to Apple employees in early August. In that message, which was distributed to the media, Jobs wrote that he said he had a rare form of treatable pancreatic cancer.

News source: MercuryNews.com