Pogue said that some of the 25 million or so existing Mac users may be shocked at some of the changes in OS X. “Hundreds of features you thought you knew have been removed, replaced or relocated. Unfortunately, Mac OS X comes with little more than a pamphlet in the way of printed instructions. To find your way around, you’re expected to use Apple’s online help system,” said Pogue.
To this end, Pogue’s book is designed to serve as the manual that he said should have been in the box to begin with.
The guide offers coverage of basic operations in Mac OS X and enough depth for the power user as well. It also includes information about Mac OS X 10.1, and analyzes the new operating system’s Unix-style folder structure, how to set up an office network, use of Mac OS X’s Internet features, and even the command line interface (CLI) — a powerful (albeit intimidating, for some) interface for accessing Mac OS X’s inner workings. The book also tackles issues related to the software included with Mac OS X, like iTunes, Mail, Sherlock and Apache.
One feature of particular interest for veteran Mac users is the Appendix A section, a “Where’d It Go?” dictionary that alphabetically lists every feature that was in Mac OS 9, with an explanation of what happened to it with Mac OS X.
More info about the book, including table of contents, index, author bio and samples are available from O’Reilly & Associates’ Web site.
Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, by David Pogue, ISBN 0-596-00082-0, is available for US$24.95.