Widely esteemed Mac authority David Pogue weighs in on the latest offering from Cupertino with Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. It's a fact-packed romp through the operating system and the extras that come with it, made resoundingly more readable by the depth of Pogue's knowledge, his familiarity with Mac history, and his eagerness to engage novices as members of the Mac user community. Unlike most books about Mac OS X, this one explores its Unix-like underpinnings (the Apple implementation is called Darwin) pretty thoroughly. However, based on the logic that if you wanted to use Unix, you would, Pogue emphasizes the traditional, graphical Mac interface over the Terminal window.

Pogue, who's written about Macs for years and whose professional qualifications extend beyond computers (he's an orchestral conductor), writes about Macs at the user level with clarity. He's also quite good at dealing with the numerous options and variations that apply to Mac procedures, and makes very good use of sidebars for clarifying details. In a section on printing, for example, Pogue explains why there's no longer an option to turn off background printing (true multitasking has rendered the option obsolete). There's also good coverage of the online iTools, tailored to people unfamiliar with integrating remote resources into their personal computing environments. --David Wall

Topics covered: Apple Mac OS X for people who will use the operating system, either on a standalone computer with Internet access or on a computer that is part of a home or organizational network. Running applications (in Classic mode as well as in native Mac OS X mode), printing, networking, multimedia, security (including Keychain), and utilities are all covered.


Book Description
For personal computer users of every stripe, Mac OS X is a whole new ballgame. It combines Apple's trademark visual elegance with the underlying stability of UNIX, which adds up to a rock-solid, gorgeous operating system. Unfortunately, learning Mac OS X is also whole new ballgame. As author David Pogue notes in his introduction, "Mac OS X" is a misnomer--it isn't really the Mac OS at all; there's scarcely a single line of code in common with the tangled, ancient code of the older Mac OS. Hundreds of features have been removed, added, or moved around. Few in the world are more qualified to guide Mac users through the undocumented jungle of Mac OS X than David Pogue, triple-award-winning former Macworld columnist and author of the best-selling Mac OS 9: The Missing Manual. His new book shines light on both the broad strokes and the fine points of Mac OS X version 10.1, including understanding its UNIX-like folder structure, setting up an office network, capitalizing on its rich Internet features, and even hacking the real power of the UNIX underbelly by summoning the command-line interface. Mac OS X: The Missing Manual also covers each of the control panels and bonus programs that comes with Mac OS X, including iTunes, Mail, Sherlock, and Apache, the built-in Web-server. For Mac users who have become accustomed to the older Mac OS, Appendix A, the "Where'd It Go?" dictionary, may be worth the price of the book all by itself. It's an alphabetical listing of every feature that was once in Mac OS 9, complete with an explanation of what became of it in Mac OS X. Through it all, Pogue shows off the refreshing humor, technical insight, and crystal-clear, plain-English prose that made number one best-sellers out of his other books in the Missing Manual series, including Mac OS 9, Windows Me, and iMovie 2.


Book Info
Combines Apple's trademark visual elegance with the underlying stability of Unix, which adds up to a rock-solid operating system. Covers each of the control panels and bonus programs that comes with Mac OS X, including iTunes, Mail, Sherlock, and Apache, the built-in Web-server. Softcover.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Mac OS X 10.2 is ready for prime time -- big time. But one thing￯﾿ﾽs still missing: a decent manual. David Pogue￯﾿ﾽs Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, is the manual Apple should￯﾿ﾽve included. And, like Mac OS X 10.2 itself, Pogue￯﾿ﾽs Second Edition is a gigantic upgrade.

Every page of this Second Edition contains new feature coverage, new tricks, and/or new ways to use features that have been around awhile. Mac OS X 10.2 adds at least 150 new and resurrected features, from big ones (Sherlock 3, iCal, iSync) to little ones (USB printer sharing is back, as is Get Info). We￯﾿ﾽre hard-pressed to find any Pogue has missed. Moreover, Pogue￯﾿ﾽs broadened his audience, deliberately writing this time for both Mac upgraders and Windows switchers.

Two things especially make this book stand out. The first is the sheer volume of useful tips. With iPhoto, it￯﾿ﾽs easy to upload all the photos in your digital camera -- but what if you only want to upload some? Pogue shows how. Want your email read aloud? Pogue shows how to do that, too. He unearths built-in AppleScript to tack on a suffix to all the files in a folder; then shows you secret keyboard shortcuts left over from Steve Jobs￯﾿ﾽ NeXT operating system. You￯﾿ﾽll even learn how to make 10.2￯﾿ﾽs new AOL-compatible iChat instant messaging coexist with its new built-in firewall (without Pogue's help this might have driven you nuts).

￯﾿ﾽBig Differentiator #2￯﾿ﾽ is Pogue himself. Knowledgeable, friendly, funny -- and always on your side. (Bill Camarda)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Apple says that 150 new features debut in Mac OS X 10.2, but for once it undercounted. "Jaguar" is a different animal entirely. It's faster, more powerful, and much more customizable -- but it still comes without a manual. The first edition of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual was the #1 bestselling computer book of 2002, selling 100,000 copies in six months. Now David Pogue brings his humor and expertise to this completely rewritten, greatly expanded edition. As always, Mac OS X: the Missing Manual offers warm, witty writing, and bursts with the shortcuts, surprises, and design touches that make the Mac the most passionately championed computer in the world.

SYNOPSIS

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual illuminates both the big-ticket features and the fine points of Mac OS X version 10.1: its UNIX-like folder structure, powerful networking and Internet features, and even the command-line interface of its UNIX underbelly. Also covers each of the control panels and bonus programs that comes with Mac OS X, including iTunes, Mail, Sherlock, and Apache, the built-in Web-server.

FROM THE CRITICS