Customer Reviews
Just what a Mac newbie needed - By: Mark George Hirst, 09 Feb 2005 
Tempted by the Mac Mini, this long time Windows user decided to check out OSX for the first time.
While waiting for the Mac to arrive, this book proved invaluablein providing me with the "re-orientation" that I needed. There's a lot of conventions that I needed to learnin OSX & this book really helped.
I'm surprised at some of the negative reviews of this book, especially as it is from O'Reilly. It was just the level I needed to get familiar with the Mac & raise my awareness of what it could do.
As a technical Windows user, I'm sure I can find my way from now on, but to have data migration, Windows connectivity & other "switching" topics covered, the book reassured me that I wasn't going to sink without trace.
Mac OSX The Missing Manual - By: T. P. Jones, 02 Feb 2005 
Had I known the poor quality of the info & the useless guidesin this book, I would never have bought it. It might the missing manual, but there is a great deal of missing informationin it, particularlyin the 'import' section. The author just skips through the process without explaining anything, with the result I still cannot import the way I want to, i.e. the way the guide tells me to do; thanks to the inadequate 'preferences' info provided here. Do not get this book, find a friend with a Mac instead, or just stop the first person you see, & they'll probably be more helpful than this sorry excuse for a book.
Still miss my manual - By: , 02 Feb 2005 
This book is as much an advertisement for OSX as it is help. D. Pogue introduces OSX as "the best personal-computer operating system on earth" - which it very well might be - & keeps on singing his ode to OSX on the remaining 750 pages of the manual.
Don't get me wrong: I am an Apple fan myself. After having used Windows for over a decade, two years ago I finally got myself a G4 Powerbook & I swear by it. I am now a walking ad for Apple, short of tattooing one on my forehead. I have learned to use OSX without a manual & only decided to get myself one before moving to South America - just to be on the safe side.
I have spent a whole day reading through different OSX manualsin the store before picking "The Missing Manual" and, unfortunately, as of today do not have an alternative recommendation. I am also aware of how hard it must be to write a good manual. However,in absolute terms, this one still sucks.
OSX is mainly self-explanatory and, where it is not, this book rarely helps. It is not useless, just very incomplete, full of praise & poorely organized.
I use my Powerbook for video-editing, I network, use AirPort & a few other gadgets & usually manage with the help of my regular genius brain & Apple's resources. I learned a few tricks from the manual as well. However, I would need a manual that helps me (just a tiny bit) with troubleshooting. This one does not.
I am glad I bought this volume & it may very well be the best on the market. But who cares? The fact that there may be no better book out there does not mean we have to waste all our stars on this one. If you find the manual we are still missing, please let us know your name - the place on my forehead is still vacant.
Exactly right if you need a book at all... - By: A Fuller or M Severs, 01 Nov 2004 
The real problem with an OS as powerful as 10.3 that comes without a manual is having any idea what it can do.
This book doesn't just tell you how to do everything already you know you want to do. It also reveals the wide range of stuff you can do with 10.3 that you might not have realised is even possible.
How to connect your Mac seamlessly to a Windows/PC local network. How to use the built-in Apache web server as your web presence. How to get at the "unix innards" to make the OS do things it "isn't supposed to". And so forth.
This book is also perfect for those moving up from OS9, where there is a big change to the hows & whys things are done, or across from Windows, to speed up you easy movement around the new-found World Of Mac.
Hardcore Unix freaks should, however, skip straight to a book intended for them, like "Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks", "Programming Mac OS X: A Guide for Unix Developers" or similar. Similarly, hardcore Mac freaks wanting to become Unix gurus would be better off with something like "Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther".
Superb! - By: Guy PH, 29 Aug 2004 This book is truly superb & a must for anyone using Panther.
