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Mac OS X Hints
Addressing the Obvious
The most immediate question I had when I heard that O'Reilly would be publishing a book containing hints from macosxhints.com was, of course, Why I should get the book when the hints are already on the site for free? Both the author and the publisher also thought of this, understandably enough. Here's how Rob Griffiths answered the question in a post on the site, when the book was first announced: "The book isn't just a 'cut and paste' job from the site-to-print form. Every hint was rewritten and retested from scratch, and hundreds of screenshots were added to help clarify and explain the hints. In addition, many of the scripts and programs posted here are included (the author of each program was contacted for approval to include their original work in the book -- thanks to each of you for agreeing!)."
The response included in the O'Reilly press release for the book is along the same lines: "'The 500-plus hints in this book are based on tips published in the Mac OS X Hints web site,' explains Griffiths. 'But it's not just a rehash of what's there. Every hint has been rewritten, expanded, organized, indexed, tested for compatibility with the latest version of Mac OS X 10.2, and in many cases, illustrated, making the book an even better resource than the web site."
So the question then becomes: is this really the case? Are the differences between the hints as posted on the site and as printed in the book really significant enough to merit shelling out $24.95?
The short answer is that, in my opinion, the book is worth its price. The long answer is (predictably) a little more complicated. There are, of course, people who are more than willing to do the extra digging on the web to get the relevant content for free -- they'd rather do without the little perks (increased readability, revision, testing, screenshots) than spend potential beer money for a glossy O'Reilly book. And that's fine -- I'm more than sympathetic with this position, being frequently hard up for beer money, myself. But of course there are also people for whom the convenience is just as important as the cost, and who consider the price of the book well worth it in terms of the time saved. If you fall into the former category, don't bother buying the book -- but then, you weren't going to buy it anyway, were you? As for the latter group, rest assured that your investment will not, in this case, be wasted.
What I LikedI've read several other books on Mac OS X. The one I believe everyone should start with is still David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual . If you've already read this book (and enjoyed it) or didn't read it but are confident you've already got the equivalent experience, then Mac OS X Hints is a good next step.
Griffiths assumes you're comfortable using OS X for basic tasks: he doesn't tell you how to log in, or what the Dock is. If you're fuzzy on those kind of basics, you're not quite ready for this book (but you're positively crying out for a copy of the Missing Manual). Additionally, he pushes some not-entirely-obvious processes to the introduction, so you don't have to read the same instructions over and over in the meat of the book itself. After all, once you've been told the first time how to view the contents of a package, you're probably all set in that regard. This is one of the aspects of Mac OS X Hints that I found most appealing, actually - Griffiths just explains in the beginning that he's assuming certain things, and then doesn't bother dumbing anything else down.
I've been a fan of macosxhints.com since I first installed OS X, but it seems like Griffiths's style has really improved for the book -- this may be a function of Pogue's role as editor, as the writing in Hints displays the same familiar, comfortable tone while not skimping on depth or details. Like other books Pogue has been involved in, this one is highly readable but not oversimplified.
It seems like the revision process the hints went through during their transition from site to print has been pretty successful, as well -- despite being familiar with the site, there was a great deal of material in the book that I had never seen, even after reading other OS X books. Additionally, the testing involved in the book's creation removes a great deal of the frustration inherent in the site. As much as I like the site, there have been several hints that have mysteriously declined to function on my own system for whatever reason -- but everything I've tried from the book worked without a hitch.
I also enjoyed the fact that this book, like Mac OS X Hacks , is made for sampling. Each article is short and to the point, and while related hints are grouped by chapter, no single tip depends on the reader having already performed one of the others (unless otherwise specified). You don't have to read the book cover to cover -- you can flip around at will without getting lost.
Incidentally, another plus is that 15% of all Griffiths's profits from this book are being donated to the Doernbecher Children's Hospital. That in itself isn't a reason to buy the book, but it's good to know.
What I Didn't LikeIf I can be nitpicky for a moment, I was bothered by the frequency of purely typographical errors. Little things like "than" being used instead of "then," or the bottom edge of a line in a sidebar getting cut off. It didn't keep me from enjoying the book, and I'm sure it's the sort of thing that will get corrected in future printings, but this sort of error occurred often enough that I noticed it, anyway.
Another little thing: I wish URLS had been included whenever a third-party shareware program was mentioned. Of course I know I can Google for DragThing and find it immediately -- but if I'm paying for a book, it seems to me that I shouldn't have to.
There is also the fact that this book is undeniably a book, and that limits it in certain respects (at least when compared to the site). The index is comprehensive and useful, but it's just not as useful as the ability to search the entire text of the book. It's also inevitably dated to a certain degree -- new hints posted to the site, even if they're infinitely more fabulous than ones already present in the book, just won't show up in print for a long time to come. Similarly, if a new version of the OS breaks one of the hints, you'll be able to find out somewhere on the web, but it won't be immediately obvious when you're just reading the book. Of course, these are problems shared by all print technical books, and not just Hints.
One final note: there's a lot of overlap between this book and Mac OS X Hacks, although each book has a significant amount of unique content. If you own one, you probably don't need to get the other, but it's difficult to say which I'd buy if I had to choose. Hacks contains only 100 articles, but they're more in-depth and the tasks they cover are often trickier or less obvious. Hints contains over 500 tidbits, but they're much shorter and often deal with things like key commands that allow you to increase your efficiency, and things of that ilk.
The Bottom LineIf you're the sort for whom time is at a higher premium than money -- maybe you're the kind of person who would buy a boxed *nix distribution instead of downloading it -- then I'd say go ahead and get this book. It's well worth its price as long as you understand that what you're paying for is ease of use and reliability, as well as content. If, on the other hand, you're living on Top Ramen for the foreseeable future, you're probably better off sticking with the site. If you do buy it, I think you'll find it will make a happy addition to your bookshelf -- stick it next to the Missing Manual and dip into it whenever you're sitting through an install or reboot.
You can purchase the Mac OS X Hints from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Another little thing: I wish URLS had been included whenever a third-party shareware program was mentioned. Of course I know I can Google for DragThing and find it immediately -- but if I'm paying for a book, it seems to me that I shouldn't have to.
That's a bit of a downer. The popular misconception about Macs is that lack of software. You'd think a book that aims to show you the true power of the MAC would lead you to every little cool piece of software for it.
Perhaps some day when jobs are stable I'll shell out the moola for a powerbook. Until then, linux thou art my savior.
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Free your mind.
Those are the two big questions in my mind. I've submitted a few hints myself.
If there's a PDF version, then it should be searchable, making it FAR more useful.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
I for one love the website. But I'd also love to buy the book, being that occasionally I'll run up against a knotty problem that prevents me from getting online to check to see if there is a solution. The site tends to have a lot of really neat obscure things you won't find easily anywhere else.(yes, in true geek fashion, I have multiple machines, they just aren't always available)
Anyone have a reliable method of changing the caps-lock key to a control key on an ibook? I've tried some utility and messing with some various settings but obviously I'm not getting it right. It's easy to do on FreeBSD and Linux; a pain to do on Win2k (but do-able) - now I'm just missing my Mac.
Oh hell, maybe I should just get the book now.
You tell me how "whilst" differs from "while," and I'll stop calling you a pretentious jackass.
The story notes that this book is about power tips for Mac OS X, "amazingly enough". As a Mac OS X user, this is upsetting... it seems to me that the poster finds it unusual or ironic that ORA would release a book of "power tips" for OS X?
For one thing, they've released countless books on Windows (and I remember the times when their only books on MS issues were the "(X) Annoyances" series). For another thing, OS X is actually quite a serious system. Have you used it? Try it, it's Neat(TM).
I used to run Debian (yes, Debian) "on the desktop". Now, I run OS X. I am not regretting my move one bit. Mac OS X has a nifty GUI and all the open-source goodness I could need.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
And, as the review states, work was then done to make that content better. If you're happy working with "raw" hints in a myriad of formats, stick with macosxhints. If you want a consistently laid out resource, get the book.
I flipped through his book and was impressed to see that the hints where not just aimed at newbies. There where some nice back-end changes that you could make (the kind I like to make) if you have some experience with BSD already and are not afraid of terminal.
I don't know if I'd buy it though, since I do have enough skill to find all the hints on the site, without the pretty screen shots and all. It is a great book if you're on the cusp of getting deeper into how OS X works and getting the most out of your Mac.
I haven't read the book, although I would imagine a fair number of the hints published are from earlier in MacOS X's lifecycle. This would be good to help new users adopt to the OS, although with all the hints available online for free (with a decent search engine attached), is there really enough incentive for people to get the book as well?
Cheers.