On Sunday, two of the top five stories on Yahoo's news site concerned Jobs' cancer scare.

MacCentral and Macworld.com, two of the most popular Mac news sites on the Web, saw high volumes of weekend traffic, online editor Jim Dalrymple said.

I also noticed a great deal of concern about Jobs at tech sites I visited during the last few days. The focus was not on technology, but on wanting one of the most intriguing of high tech leaders to continue his career of innovation. "Screw the stock price! Just get well," a remark posted at MacCentral, was typical of Mac users' thoughts. The situation leads one to ask whether there would be a similar outpouring of empathy if Microsoft multi millionaire Bill Gates or Oracle honcho Larry Ellison were to report being seriously ill. I don't think so. Apple users are more of a community than other buyers of hardware or software. Part of their solidarity is the result of the continual criticism they're subjected to as users of the minority platform and computer. (There are people who believe anything 'minority' is, by definition, bad, even a computer.) One positive aspect of the situation I have noticed is that some of the people expressing concern about Jobs' health are . . . Windows users. As the iPod and iTunes have penetrated the Windows market, more denizens of Wintel are becoming interested in Apple. The mystique that has long surrounded the Macintosh, and its companion hardware and software, is being pierced, too. A sizeable proportion of the get well cards flooding Apple will not be sent from .Mac accounts.

Note: This entry also appeared at Mac-a-ro-nies.