Lacey: Chairman's role more than Steve Jobs worth

We've got Reuters quoting Larry Ellison who claims he will, and folk at Pixar leaking an internal memo that say's he won't. For crying out loud, why doesn't Steve Jobs just stand up and say, one way or another, whether he is going to take the goddamn job or not?

We have already stated its view that we think it would be better if he didn't. He's a brilliant bloke, no question, but his skills are probably more useful to Apple if he can be set free from the grind of running the corporation.

Let him be the front man, do the vision thing, and convince the world how great System 8.0 is going to be, and how it is still OK to buy a Mac if that is what you really want to do. But whatever Jobs decides to do, he should decide quick. If this all about creating a certain amount of suspense for his keynote at the Boston Mac Expo next week then nothing could be more ill-advised. Jobs will get a lengthy standing ovation what ever he says, even if he says nothing and simply asks for questions, as he frequently does when giving keynotes.

The uncertainty and speculation is unhelpful. Jobs should put the world out of its misery before Mac World. When he grabs the microphone next week the faithful want to hear about the new OS, sexy new Macs and how Apple is going to pull itself off the canvas and, Rocky-like, kick Microsoft's butt.

What they don't want to hear is a load of boring stuff about who is going to run the company, what changes are going to happen in the board room, blah, blah, blah, yawn, yawn, yawn.

Come on Steve. Yes or no? In or out? Make your choice and tell the world.