Pogue, the New York Times’ technology columnist has written this huge volume to answer all of your questions about Leopard. This is definitely not bedtime reading material!
With 300 new features in Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), it’s hard to keep up with them, but Pogue does an admirable job. Here is just a highlight of what the book offers:
* New Technologies: Time Machine, screen sharing remote control, Quick Look instant document previews, Spaces virtual screens
* Bonus software: Demystifies all 50 programs that come with the Mac (Safar, iChat, Mail, Automator, Preview and TextEdit.)
* Shortcuts: Undocumented surprises await the reader
* Power Usage: Security, networking, Automator, macros, file sharing with Windows, and exploring Unix.
* Finding Familiar Features: Includes a Windows-to-Mac dictionary for Windows refugees to get on board with the Mac.
Contents
There are 22 chapters in this book that covers more parts of Leopard than Apple can provide in one volume. If it’s not in this book, it’s not in Leopard—it’s that simple!
Many of the basic topics are listed above, but check out how thorough the 6-part Appendix is:
* Appendix A: Installing Leopard (Basic kinds of installs and advantages of each)
* Appendix B: Troubleshooting (Frozen programs, renaming icons, startup problems, etc.)
* Appendix C: The Windows-to-Mac Dictionary (Direct comparisons of Windows to Mac features). A big hit for switchers!
* Appendix D: Where to Go From Here: Web sites, free email newsletters, advanced books (as if you need even more help!)
Operating System History
To give you an idea of Pogue’s easy to read style, check out his introduction in which he explains why Leopard, and especially OS X has emerged from Apple’s early Mac OS Days:
In any case, Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major version of Apple’s Unix-based operating system. It is not, however, the Mac operating system that saw Apple through the 1980s and 1990s, the one that was finally retired when it was called Mac OS 9. Apple dumped that one in 2001: in Leopard, even fewer traces of it remain.
Why did Apple throw out the operating system that made it famous to begin with? Well, through the years, as Apple piled new features onto a software foundation originally poured in 1984, the original foundation was beginning to creak. Programmers and customers complained of the “spaghetti code” that the Mac OS has become.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, of course, believes in swift, decisive action and letting chips fall where they may. In his view, starting from scratch—and jettisoning the system software the world had come to know—was the only way to go.
Why Leopard?
Pogue explains that Leopard is just an evolutionary spiral of the OS:
Mac OS X 10.5, affectionately known as Leopard only builds on the successes of the previous Mac OS X versions. You still don’t have to worry about viruses, spyware, or service pack releases that take up a Saturday afternoon to install and fine-tune. And you’ll still enjoy stability that would make the you of 1999 positively drool; your Mac may go for months or years without a system crash.
He goes on to explain why Unix is the underbody that gives Leopard its strength.
Although the price of the book is $34.99, ApplePickers members can get up to a 35% discount by using discount code DSUG when ordering directly from O’Reilly.
Ordering one book will get you 30% off, buy 2 or more will get you 35% off and any order over $29.99 will qualify for free shipping.
Evaluation
If you are casually interested in Leopard, you should probably check out the Leopard Pocket Guide reviewed previously. But if you are at all serious about the features and applications in Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual is must reading.
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