Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition (Missing Manual)

Location: Home » vampire: masquerade » General AAS » Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition (Missing Manual)

Similar Items:

•	Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual
•	iPhoto '08: The Missing Manual
•	Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual
•	Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
•	iMovie '08 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Is Windows giving you pause? Ready to make the leap to the Mac instead? There has never been a better time to switch from Windows to Mac, and this incomparable guide will help you make a smooth transition. New York Times columnist and Missing Manuals creator David Pogue gets you past three challenges: transferring your stuff, assembling Mac programs so you can do what you did with Windows, and learning your way around Mac OS X. Why is this such a good time to switch? Upgrading from one version of Windows to another used to be simple. But now there's Windows Vista, a veritable resource hog that forces you to relearn everything. Learning a Mac is not a piece of cake, but once you do, the rewards are oh-so-much better. No viruses, worms or spyware. No questionable firewalls, inefficient permissions, or other strange features. Just a beautiful machine with a thoroughly reliable system. And if you're still using Windows XP, we've got you covered, too. If you're ready to take on Mac OS X Leopard, the latest edition of this bestselling guide tells you everything you need to know: Transferring your stuff -- Moving photos, MP3s, and Microsoft Office documents is the easy part. This book gets you through the tricky things: extracting your email, address book, calendar, Web bookmarks, buddy list, desktop pictures, and MP3 files. Re-creating your software suite -- Big-name programs (Word, Photoshop, Firefox, Dreamweaver, and so on) are available in both Mac and Windows versions, but hundreds of other programs are available only for Windows. This guide identifies the Mac equivalents and explains how to move your data to them. Learning Leopard -- Once you've moved into the Mac, a final task awaits: Learning your way around. Fortunately, you're in good hands with the author of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, the #1 bestselling guide to the Macintosh. Moving from Windows to a Mac successfully and painlessly is the one thing Apple does not deliver. Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition is your ticket to a new computing experience.

Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Good packaging March 17, 2008
49 out of 51 found this review helpful

I have to strongly disagree with the reviewer here who suggests buying the "Leopard Edition Missing Manual" instead. Yes, there is duplication of content here, but there is also content that is NOT in the other book, and I think a Windows Switcher is going to be much happier with this book than the other. In an ideal situation, I'd give them both and have them read this first.

Sure, it could have been done better, and maybe there really is no need for two thick books. Maybe all the "switcher" stuff should be taken out of the "regular" book and all the "this is the way a Mac" works stuff should be taken out of this - then the two could and should be sold as a set for those who need or want both. Certainly both these books could use some trimming; they are fat and hard to handle.

This is the book I'd give my wife if and when I can get her to give up her Windows PC (I hate that stupid thing and cannot wait for it to die!). She'll be much happier with this than she would be with the other book.

2 out of 5 stars

Hastily stitched together snippets of author's top-selling "Big Mac" March 17, 2008
36 out of 42 found this review helpful

Pogue, author/publisher of the spot-on "Missing Manuals" - a series well-regarded for consistently delivering what it promises - ought to be keel-hauled for producing such a sloppily cobbled and pitifully proofed reissue of his widely-lauded "Mac OS-X Leopard", all under the thin veneer of a smashing title (sure got this recent switcher's attention!).

Fortunately, the manual retains most of Pogue's inimitable touches of thorough attention to technical detail; by all rights it should have been a winner -- sad to say, it falls far short of that lofty target. This manual easily would have merited 4 stars for content, but instead turns out to be a second-best also-ran, flying under a false flag. Spend just a few more bucks to get the heavy-weight version of the author's authentic Leopard "Missing Manual"; while the switcher's tips appetizers are identical, the latter heaps more and fresher Leopard meat on your plate.

Section (even chapter) text seems to be blatantly copied-and-pasted verbatim from "Big Mac", including give-away wording lifted from that manual such as '(page 835)' on p. 570 in this 590-page book. Even the handy 5-page 'secret' master keystroke list (Appendix C) is exactly the same as the original's Appendix E. And, annoyingly, on and on. The 'new thin aluminum keyboard' (fig 1-5, p.21) shows four keys at bottom left (like the wireless keyboard), whereas the redesigned USB keyboard sports just three widened modifier keys [Ctrl, Alt (eh, Option), and Command], confining Fn to just one key near the top.

The Index -- an invaluable tool for transplants trying to come up to speed in the Mac world -- obviously hasn't been proofed, in that 'System Preferences' with 27 subentries is wedged between 'Sounds' and 'Spaces', to reappear (identically spelled, but with just one subentry) in its correct alpha position. I checked the Index in vain for 'Proxy Icon', a term foreign to Windows users; 'Formating' (a disk), that perennial Windows headache, likewise isn't referenced.

In brief: This is more of a 'Missed' [in the sense of opportunity lost, or failing the mark] than a 'Missing' Manual. By all means purchase this author's Mac OS-X 'Leopard' bible rather than this repackaged version, whose title may be its sole claim to originality.

5 out of 5 stars

Necessity For The Windows Divorcee March 17, 2008
29 out of 35 found this review helpful

For anyone that is not familiar with the wonderful, easy world that is the Apple Macintosh, consider yourself a poor, ignorant soul. Ever since the first Macintosh computer was launched in 1984, the Mac has been the most user-friendly computer available to the masses, and with the newest operating system X Leopard Edition, the same is true, only times X!!!

For existing Windows users who have decided to make the switch because they got their slick new iPod and loves the way it works or they just got a look at a Mac recently and decided it was for them this is the perfect manual for making the switch!!

Covering basics like getting e-mail up and running, importing bookmarks, listening to music, viewing digital pictures and all the other important parts of everyday personal computing is all contained in this book. Written by the amazing David Pogue, every topic is covered in an easy to read manner and this manual is chock full of images on nearly every page!!

For all recent Mac OS X users or people who have made the switch, this book truly SHOULD have been in the box with the OS. It's an incredibly well-written resource, and while it's full of hard data and examples, it's really fun at the same time!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

4 out of 5 stars

A reference worth owning if you're using Leopard March 10, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

As a long-time Windows user I found myself annoyed at getting around my first Mac. Apple's site has some helpful tutorials and videos -- but this book is even better. OS X is a great operating system and Mr. Pogue's explanation and organization bring it to light. I'm still not as fast with Mac as with Windows (especially the shortcut keys) but this book got me close. I recommend it.

1 out of 5 stars

A book for those who already know its contents July 10, 2008
8 out of 11 found this review helpful

I am switching from PC to iMAC after tiring of continual crashes and bought this to aid me. This book is of only slight value to a novice. If the reader knew as much about iMACs as the author assumes, there would be little reason to purchase this book. Check it out yourself. Think of some simple operations that you perform on your PC. Then, peruse the index for this book in an attempt to learn how to perform the same functions on an iMAC. In the unlikely event that you find in the index what you are looking for, read the indicated pages. If you can get past the computer gibberish, you may finds something meaningful. I couldn't. And when I tried to carefully follow the instructions, the things that the books affirms will occur, did not occur. Fortunately, there seem to be several ways to perform any function on the iMAC. So by mindlessly clicking on things and wasting a lot of time I could learn myself what this book falsely promised to teach me.

Its best use is to just read it through and get some feel for what Leopard is. That's not why I bought it.

Powered by Associate-O-Matic

T-shirts, Posters

Pentagram T-shirts, bags, etc...

Gothic Posters