Slashdot Mirror
Mac OS X Power Tools
Here's the thing about book reviews: They're a lot easier to write when you either absolutely hated or absolutely adored the book in question. Once you've decided how you feel about it, it's easy to find a dozen examples of its mediocrity or excellence, as the case may be. However, I've been sitting on this particular review for a few weeks now, unable to finish it because I can't say that I feel very strongly at all about Power Tools. I recently decided, however, that being unable to form a definite opinion of it one way or another is itself a kind of opinion. There's nothing glaringly wrong with it or missing from it, but when it comes down to whether I'd choose to buy it over a different Mac book, I can't say that I would. I realize that this isn't a work of fiction -- its goal isn't exactly to suck me in with thrilling plot twists so that I read the whole thing cover to cover in one sitting. Nevertheless, there are some other books out there that do exactly that (I'll get to them later), and I think I've been spoiled by reading them.
What I Liked
Power Tools covers its bases in a thorough, informative way. It's a solid OS X book, intended for anyone who understands the very basics involved in using a Mac. The author makes very clear early on that he's not intending to show you how to log in, or how to launch an application, but that's about the extent of the proficiency required, I think. Frakes seems to understand his audience and to address it consistently, which is rare enough to be refreshing. One of my pet peeves in technical writing concerns authors who can't decide who they're talking to -- sidebars for beginners and power users are great, but when the body of the text itself waffles back and forth between skill levels, it can be both frustrating and confusing. This is a trap that Power Tools sidesteps completely: At the beginning of each section, you'll find a couple of lines telling you whether an Admin account is required for the techniques described, and whether the changes being made are system-wide or will affect only your own account. Mac OS X Hacks (which is, incidentally and confusingly enough, the Mac equivalent of O'Reilly's classic Unix Power Tools) uses a similar system to introduce each of the hacks in the book, and it's a practice that I'd like to see used more widely.
Favorite sections: Although certainly not the meatiest bits of the book, I thought the quick-reference keyboard shortcut and third-party utility lists were great, and I've used them fairly frequency since Power Tools took up residency on the shelf over my desk. As far as the more substantial content is concerned, I'd have to say Frakes's coverage of Classic is probably one of my favorite chapters -- oddly enough, since I never use Classic myself. That's part of the reason I liked his section on it, though: it does a good job of explaining why you'll want to avoid Classic whenever you can, while also pointing out some ways to make the best of it if it can't be avoided. The list of startup files necessary to use Classic is a good reference for folks who'd like to clean out their old System Folders without crippling anything. And of course Frakes's experience managing and troubleshooting OS 9 comes in useful here -- he points out classics like Conflict Catcher that users shouldn't be without if Classic is used with any degree of regularity.
Chapter 14, covering maintainence and administration of a Mac running OS X, is also full of sound, reasonable advice. Disk care and repair as well as how to recover lost data and prevent such mishaps to begin with are all covered thoroughly and intelligently in this section, as well the whys and wherefores of backups. Nothing surprising, perhaps, but nothing that should be left out of a decent Mac book, either.
What I Didn't Like
Although this is purely a matter of taste and I'm aware that there are many people who disagree with me, I just don't like Frakes's writing style. I have enjoyed some of his columns in the past, but it seems like his humor falls more than a little flat when stretched out over the course of a book. The alliterative titles were amusing for the first one or two chapters, but "Apple-ication Aptitude" is pushing it just a bit, I think. Although I realize that the first priority of a technical book is not to entertain its readers, exactly, is it too much to ask that it enthuse us? I was already interested in OS X before reading Power Tools, but I didn't find anything to excite me -- how would a new Mac user fare?
My least favorite chapter was probably Chapter 6, "Developing a Dynamite Dock." Despite Frakes's promise to assume that the reader is familiar with the basics, there's still the inevitable trot through the relevant Preference panel. Some good third-party software like Tinker Tool is discussed, but there wasn't anything that surprised me in this chapter.
The Bottom Line
This is a perfectly adequate OS X book, and you wouldn't be wasting your money by buying it. Indeed, if you're already a fan of the author, you should probably do exactly that. For me, though, while it does a decent job of accomplishing the tasks it sets for itself, the book just never quite cuts it for me. The bottom line is really that if I had enough money to buy only a single Mac book, this wouldn't be it. I'd spend my forty dollars (or so) instead on either Mac OS X Unleashed or Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. Frakes actually recommends the latter as an alternative for absolute beginners who would be lost in his own book, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's just for novices. It really is a complete OS X manual, covering topics for users at every skill level. As for Unleashed, I've reviewed this book already (more recently than I have the Missing Manual) so I'll just say that if you want a Mac book so complete that it will introduce you to web programming so you can use that default Apache installation, then that's a book you should consider. While I would prefer either one of these books to Power Tools if I were only able to buy one, it's also true that I'm not sorry to have added it to my collection (since, like most people, I'm not limited to one book per subject).
And Furthermore
Dan Frakes is a generally beloved Mac writer and developer and, my ambivalence about this book aside, his stuff is worth looking into. He contributes to the "Mac OS X Secrets" column in Macworld and is also involved in the 9th edition of the Mac Bible. His personal site is danfrakes.com, and the site for this book is at macosxpowertools.com.
You can purchase Mac OS X Power Tools from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
*p_e_n_i_s_b_i_r_d_p_e_n_i_s_b_i_r_d_*
p______...___________________________p
e____(_..__`'-.,--,__________________e
n_____'-._'-.__`\a\\_________________n
i_________'.___.'_(|_________________i
s____________7____||_________________s
b___________/___.'_|_________________b
i__________/_.-'__,J_________________i
r_________/_________\________________r
d________||___/______;_______________d
*________||__|_______|_______________*
p________`\__\_______|__/__''\_______p
e__________'._\______/.-`____{}|_____e
n___________/\_`;_.-'_________/______n
i___________\_;(((____.--'\_/________i
s_________.(((_____.-;\______________s
b____.--'`_____,;`'.'-;\_____________b
i_taco's____.'____'._.'\\____________i
r_dick_--'_________|__\_|____________r
d__________________\_\,_/____________d
*p_e_n_i_s_b_i_r_d_p_e_n_i_s_b_i_r_d_*
Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)
I just *love* my iMac, the only thing that keeps me from replacing all my Linux boxes with 'em is--price. Even if you can scarf one off eBay they are still costly.
With that said, that is a fat 17" 1ghz out there is is looking pretty good (chop, chop).
M.B.
IS a power tool!
At least in my book.
I have read several os x books and find that all have had little patch ideas or a vauge introduction. This disapoints me as someone who wants to get to the meat of the OS. Personally, I think this is a big hinderance of why people have not switched to powerbooks from their *nix workstation. If you want to learn about the OS, buy a freeBSD book and understand that there are a few differences
Let's start with the windowing environment, since that is the first thing users will notice. While both KDE and GNOME are mature, stable, and accepted as IEEE standards, Apple has elected to use neither. In fact, they don't even use X at all! Their display system is a proprietary, closed-source system called Quartz Extreme. In addition to the moral issues involved with closed software, this precludes the user from running X apps. There is an untested and alpha-quality X11 emulation layer available for download, but it is emulation, so programs will be slow. Does this sound like a standards-based system to you?
Looking under the hood, it gets worse. While all other *nixes use standard ELF binaries, Darwin (Apple's name for their proprietary "Unix" kernel) does not. It uses Mach-O, an unproven format that is proprietary to Apple. The moribund FreeBSD, off which OS X is based, uses ELF, so clearly Apple went to the extra effort of "switching" (heh) simply to break compatibility. With ELF, users would be able to run most of their Lunix apps; with Mach-O this is impossible. Additionally, Apple has moved most configuration info fromhuman readable text files into a proprietary database called "NetInfo", which is much like the Windows registry we all loathe. Why? These are only a few of the ways that Apple has deliberately broken compatibility with other systems, presumably in order to lock users in to expensive Mac hardware.
When we factor in the threat to users' civil liberties that is posed by the DRM included to support the iTunes Music Store (do you really think it will end there?) it is obvious that real *nix gurus should give OS X a wide berth. Caveat emptor.
Here's the thing about book reviews: They're a lot easier to read when you either absolutely hated or absolutely adored the book review in question. Once you've decided how you feel about it, it's easy to find a dozen examples of its mediocrity or excellence, as the case may be. However, I've been sitting on this particular review for a few minutes now, unable to finish it because I can't say that I feel very strongly at all about "Mac OS Power Tools."
But I am eating an apple right now.
It might be worth the price for the keyboard shortcuts stuff alone. It seems like every other OSX search gives me another shortcut or so to add to my respository of marginally useful knowledge.
It sounds like something that is worth checking out at the local bookstore anyway.
How many here us OSX everyday?
What are the things that you like about OSX?
Most of all pertinent to the above review what is your favorite OS X tool?
ACK
True to Slashdot form!
This may be borderline off-topic, but I wanted to elaborate on the poster mention of stupid puns in the book.
What's up with that? Why do people not think these lame jokes make them look like morons? I was watching a car show yesterday, and they ended with a bit on exhaust systems: "If you haven't exhausted your possibilites yet, you can pick up the acme muffler - it's a gas." Except it went on longer and was stupider. There were at least two more stupid puns, including "exhaust" being used again. With half the time being an advertisement of select aftermarket parts and the other half devoted to making me groan, I learned what a supercharger was, how it differed from Nos, and that's about it. In half an hour.
Make jokes, that's fine. If you want to say "how can the iPod be so skinny, yet sound so fat?" that's great, I'll chuckle. But "Apple-ication?" Don't be a dumbass.
c-hack.com |
Ok, most of us don't give a shit one way or the other, so I am going to go off on a mildly relevant tangent.
I think that using an analogy to "Power Tools" -- and doing so in the context of a book about a Mac -- is kind of stupid. I mean, "Power Tools" does not go with the image that I have of Macs as these clean-running, quiet, beautifully usable machines. The image I have of my power tools is one of grease, dirt, and bugs that need to be patched.
Mostly, it's an image thing. Until Apple comes out with an iBandsaw, iDrill, and iLathe, 'Power Tools' is just a stupid name for this book. It's like "Power Tools for the Boeing 747" or "Power Tools for The Barbecue" -- it's not a good metaphor, and it doesn't make sense.
I mean, you do heavy work with Power Tools, things you can't do without them. These sort of books are more "Tips and Tricks" for tools you already own -- like "How To Get The Most Out Of Your Belt Sander", or "Did You Know That The Drill That You're Holding Can Function As A Small Hammer Drill, If You Twist The Head And Use This Bit?"
I must be having a sandy vagina day or something. Little things like this are making me want to go firebomb an orphanage.
I am a homosexual. I bought an Apple computer because of its well earned reputation for being "the" gay computer. Since I have become an Apple owner, I have been exposed to a whole new world of gay friends. It is really a pleasure to meet and compute with other homos such as myself. I plan on using my new Apple computer as a way to entice and recruit young schoolboys into the homosexual lifestyle; it would be so helpful if you could produce more software which would appeal to young boys. Thanks in advance.
with much gayness,
Father Randy "Pudge" O'Day, S.J.
$12 less at Amazon!!!
Frakes assures the reader that anyone who's ever touched a computer before can make use of this book, and that even the most experienced user will find something new and exciting. Is he right? Maybe.
Way to take a stand there. Quick, what are your thoughts on fast food? Are you a BK guy or a Wendy's guy?
"Maybe."
Thanks for your letter. Being Catholic myself, I know exactly what you're talking about! It has always been our plan here at Apple Computer Inc to revolutionize personal computing with our high-quality and highly gay products.
I'm happy to answer your letter by letting you know that YES we will be releasing an entire hLife ("homo-life") software line. You'll be able to recognize it in stores by the small stylized logo depicting a large cock entering a tight anus with an Apple logo on it. ("Suddenly it all comes together" indeed!).
Anyway, I hope you and other members of our community will join us on our mission, and purchase the exciting new hLife boxed set. Only the boxed set comes with translucent cock rings!
Sincerely,
Harry Rodman
Vice-president
Homosexual Liaison Services
Apple Computer, Inc.
I would mod you Insightful if I had the mod points.
I personally think that Apple is a great company, one of the only major technology companies that really, honestly has a tradition of quality at every point in the user's experience, from Support to the design of their system to basic usability.
But, on the other hand, this is the kind of information and opposing viewpoint that NEEDS to be modded up, because it raises *legitimate* points, points that are likely important to a lot of people on slashdot, and that you (unfortunately) do not often hear mentioned.
Personally, I think that Apple *has* to take this stance in order to keep their hardware sales from becoming absolutely destroyed by beige box companies that would use the Mac OS. Apple is a top-to-bottom design company, and that is what made it great, why the majority of its customers are so loyal, and why it manages to survive financially -- transitioning into purely an OS and accessories company would doom it.
Nonetheless, I would like to hear an intelligent discussion of how Apple could maintain their core business model -- bloated hardware prices and all -- and still allow program portability. And unfortunately, those discussions tend to get drowned immediately by people with mod points and dogmatic opinions.
KDE and GNOME are butt ugly. Why would Apple take the easy way out and use some crappy looking window manager like KDE or GNOME?
x treme.h tmle fe/www .apple.com/macosx/pdfs/Quartz_TB.pdf
/Users is not hard to do.
I don't think you've ever even used Apple's X11 program. First of all, it's beta 2 and it's not slow at all. It's compatible with virtually all X11 programs.
Quartz Extreme is not the window manager. It's what converts 2D/3D into OpenGL and sends them to the graphics card so that the CPU doesn't have to compute any scales etc of the windows.
Aqua is the window manager.
Why don't you read this link and familiarize yourself with how OSX works
http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/quartze
You may also want to read this pdf file
http://a32.g.akamai.net/7/32/51/e3f09c3d615
The fact that you blame Apple for their DRM in the iTunes Music Store only shows your ignorance. It's the music lables that forced Apple to have some kind of DRM in their software.
The more I write in response, the more your post seems to be troll bait.
However, I will not start flaming away, but suggest you actually learn a little more about how OSX works before complaining.
Some things like the NetInfo database are not that bad like you say.
niutil -list .
In fact it's much easier than cding to some dir(if you can remember where the hell the right config files are) and loading the file in pico/whatever and searching for the right option you want.
Check this Out!
Also here!
-B
Nope? Who cares then? Apple can continue to hide on their PPC platform, charge exorbant prices for their products and remain the yuppy can only afford a MAC.
How about Steve Jobs get a clue, move to the x86 or AMD64 even and get in the mainstream. It's never been the Apple hardware makes it what it is it's always been the software and it's time for that software to run with the rest of the mainstream PC's.
Otherwise I guess those people at Apple just dont like money.
What a stupid post, written by a loser, read by losers.
You're not funny, and the last line with it's morbid humor is just plain dumb and sooooooo 80s.
Get a life, hick.
In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even BBEdit Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Macs, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a Mac that has run faster than its Wintel counterpart, despite the Macs' faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 4 megs of ram runs faster than this 300 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the Macintosh is a superior machine.
Mac addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Mac over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
The scripting abilities of OSX combined with access to applications make this a great tool.
I have macOSX a 200 gig drive for my scans. I wrote a perl scipt using imagemagick (gotten with fink) goes through my original scan directory tree and converts all my tiffs to jpegs on another drive. (basicially and incrimental perl backup)
Then I wrote a little apple script to launch the image convertion perl script. So whenever I need to back up I double click on the application and automagic backup!
[posting AC so i won't be accused of kharma whoring]
Mac OS X Power Tools
author Dan Frakes
pages 607
publisher Sybex
rating 7/10
reviewer Emma Story
ISBN 0782141927
summary A solid OS X title that covers its bases.
Here's the thing about book reviews: They're a lot easier to write when you either absolutely hated or absolutely adored the book in question. Once you've decided how you feel about it, it's easy to find a dozen examples of its mediocrity or excellence, as the case may be. However, I've been sitting on this particular review for a few weeks now, unable to finish it because I can't say that I feel very strongly at all about Power Tools. I recently decided, however, that being unable to form a definite opinion of it one way or another is itself a kind of opinion. There's nothing glaringly wrong with it or missing from it, but when it comes down to whether I'd choose to buy it over a different Mac book, I can't say that I would. I realize that this isn't a work of fiction -- its goal isn't exactly to suck me in with thrilling plot twists so that I read the whole thing cover to cover in one sitting. Nevertheless, there are some other books out there that do exactly that (I'll get to them later), and I think I've been spoiled by reading them.
What I Liked
Power Tools covers its bases in a thorough, informative way. It's a solid OS X book, intended for anyone who understands the very basics involved in using a Mac. The author makes very clear early on that he's not intending to show you how to log in, or how to launch an application, but that's about the extent of the proficiency required, I think. Frakes seems to understand his audience and to address it consistently, which is rare enough to be refreshing. One of my pet peeves in technical writing concerns authors who can't decide who they're talking to -- sidebars for beginners and power users are great, but when the body of the text itself waffles back and forth between skill levels, it can be both frustrating and confusing. This is a trap that Power Tools sidesteps completely: At the beginning of each section, you'll find a couple of lines telling you whether an Admin account is required for the techniques described, and whether the changes being made are system-wide or will affect only your own account. Mac OS X Hacks (which is, incidentally and confusingly enough, the Mac equivalent of O'Reilly's classic Unix Power Tools) uses a similar system to introduce each of the hacks in the book, and it's a practice that I'd like to see used more widely.
Favorite sections: Although certainly not the meatiest bits of the book, I thought the quick-reference keyboard shortcut and third-party utility lists were great, and I've used them fairly frequency since Power Tools took up residency on the shelf over my desk. As far as the more substantial content is concerned, I'd have to say Frakes's coverage of Classic is probably one of my favorite chapters -- oddly enough, since I never use Classic myself. That's part of the reason I liked his section on it, though: it does a good job of explaining why you'll want to avoid Classic whenever you can, while also pointing out some ways to make the best of it if it can't be avoided. The list of startup files necessary to use Classic is a good reference for folks who'd like to clean out their old System Folders without crippling anything. And of course Frakes's experience managing and troubleshooting OS 9 comes in useful here -- he points out classics like Conflict Catcher that users shouldn't be without if Classic is used with any degree of regularity.
Chapter 14, covering maintainence and administration of a Mac running OS X, is also full of sound, reasonable advice. Disk care and repair as well as how to recover lost data and prevent such mishaps to begin with are all covered thoroughly and intelligently in this section, as well the whys and wherefores of backups. Nothing surprising, perhaps, but nothing that should be left out of a decent Mac book, either.
Wha
I would be silently applauding you for a quality troll, but unfortunately this has been posted verbatim in pretty much every Mac article already, so it's not like I'm responding to any originality (and I doubt the AC posting it is the author, either).
First of all, it's beta 2 and it's not slow at all.
Actually, it's been beta 3 for a few months now, and can be had at http://www.apple.com/macosx/x11/. If you get it, make sure to get the SDK too, so that you can compile new X11 apps (such as those provided by fink)
Aqua is not a window manager. It's just a set of look-and-feel standards. Window Server is the Mac OS X window manager.
and not even a Karma whore a that.
Any self-respecting geek is not going to buy at Amazon and I would hope especially not after following your affiliate link in.
If you want to find good prices on tech books try Bookpool or All Book Stores.
BTW bookpool is $6.04 cheaper than your beloved amazon.
You know, it comes and it goes with me. (My thoughts on that, not the vagina thing.)
Apple's got a strange hybrid going here. On one hand, there's this elegant "it just works" machine with a great UI and this feature and that feature for all of us, and on the other hand, there's bash and X11. Power-user tools for those who like to get down in the trenches and get their hands dirty, so to speak.
I think it's the best kind of computer, really--you can write Perl scripts and use Photoshop's healing tool side by side. Power for the rest of us, so to speak.
As for that sandy vagina thing, you might want to talk to a doctor about that.
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
You've already been modded a Troll but some people already read your rubbish. I'll reply.
1 - You claim that MacOS X bears as much resemblance to "real" UNIX as Windows ME.
This is just hilarious. MacOS X is as real of a UNIX as Linux. You can compile a most POSIX source unaltered in both. Can you do that under Windows ME without add-on compatibily layers?
2 - You say Apple ignored X to write Quartz. There is an Apple branded FREE (beer) X server for MacOS X. It's based off XFree. It's not untested and it's not an emulation layer. I does integrate with the rest of the Desktop. While not final code, it's very stable.
3 - You claim Darwin is proprietary. It is not. Quite simply, you could also claim that the sky is green. Not true.
4 - You claim FreeBSD is moribund. This has nothing to do with MacOS X, and ridiculous. Free software is never moribund. It can't die. FreeBSD is alive and well, too.
5 - You claim Apple used Mach-O to break compatibily with ELF?
Why should they use ELF? They can do whatever they want, and they chose to use the Mach-O format for legacy reasons related to NeXTStep.
6 - You claim NetInfo is like the Windows Registry, and that it breaks compatibily.
Netinfo is just practical. Other vendors do similar things (like IBM) with they UNIXes.
It's legacy from NeXTStep. It's easy to use and it gets the job done. I see no problem with it.
7 - You claim Apple is shoving DRM down our throats. You should be glad that Apple cut the best DRM deal there is. Nobody else has a lighter DRM system. You forget that they are a company and they will be toasted by the RIAA and MPAA if they don't enforce some sort of DRM. They came up with something practical.
I do not like DRM, but if I ran a company, I couldn't have done better than Apple.
Don't you have anything else better to do than to diss Apple and MacOS X? What's your problem? You're 10 and can't affort one of those pretty shiny Apple computers?
-- askien
You're already posted this on just about every single Mac article that's been posted here for a fair amount of time, every time as an AC because you're such a chicken. The real basis of your trouble would be due to using the old Mac OS which wasn't capable of true multitasking, although 20 minutes for 16 MB is either some other problem or else just part of your typical, and very dated, MS troll, fuckwad.
"KDE and GNOME are butt ugly. Why would Apple take the easy way out and use some crappy looking window manager like KDE or GNOME?"
Aesthetics are _extremely_ subjective. I agree that the "lickable" Aqua interface is very beautiful. However, there's also a certain beauty in a austere, all-business interface. Think of the old-school telephone vs. the newfangled ones with instruction manuals thicker than...the phone book
Of course, there are good compromises between the extremes--like, say, OS 9. That was a gorgeously designed UI. Good lookin' without too many distractions.
BTW my vote for the best X utility--Launchbar.
Regards, Matt
All I know is that Frakes is number 1!
anyone know if this is out yet and if yes has anyone used it...how is it?
I have read several os x books
Why? I thought it "just works".
I thought OS X is the most "elegant", "simple", "user friendly" operating system to use.
I thought it "gets out of your way" and lets you get done what you need to get done.
If it's all of those things, why would anyone need a book? Or have all those Mac users been lying for the past few years?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I have a couple comments about the review, and a couple comments in response to posts in this discussion.
First, a comment about the review's recommendation that really has little to do with my book, and more to do with recommending books in general. Writing style is a very personal thing, and unless you're David Pogue, it's impossible to write a book everyone will love ;-) So I have no problem with the reviewer preferring a different "style." However, I do disagree somewhat with the overall recommendation made in the review ("Get The Missing Manual or Mac OS X Unleashed instead"), and not because I wrote one of the books in question.
When recommending a book, the most important things to know are the reader's level of expertise and the reader's goals in reading the book. The three books mentioned here are aimed at very different levels:
There is undoubtedly a bit of overlap in these three books, but for the most part they are written for different audiences. In other words, it's difficult to simply say "get Book A over Book B" without knowing more about the reader. All three books are, in my humble opinion, great books -- I wrote one and own the other two -- and I recommend them frequently. However, I've rarely recommended one over the other two, simply because they aren't comparable substitutes, IMO.
I guess what I'm saying is to make sure you're buying, or recommending, the right book for the reader. I'd rather see you buy someone else's book than buy mine if it's not appropriate for you.
A few quick comments on messages in this thread:
jcsehak wrote:
Sorry you didn't like that joke ;-) Using alliteration in chapter titles is a bit of fun when you're writing 600+ pages on an operating system, and, from a pedagogical standpoint, a useful approach. However, it can admittedly get a bit cheezy after a while, and I was actually trying to make fun of that fact with the chapter title in question. The original title was "Application Aptitude" -- which probably wouldn't have generated any comments -- but as a joke I changed it to "Apple-ication," basically parodying the approach. OK, it was a very bad pun, I admit it. Maybe my brain was a bit fried after writing 600+ pages, but I thought it was funny at the time. Maybe it wasn't so funny after all -- you're not the first person to criticize it ;-)
mr_luc wrote:
The book belongs to a series of books from the same publisher called "Power Tools" that includes books on Unix, Linux, Windows, etc.; I didn't have much say in the title. In some ways I agree with you that it doesn't properly indicate what the book is about. On the other hand, as I mention in the book's introduction, hard
Isn't this Frakes guy the clown-punching psuedo-Kirk from STNG?
Here's the writeup from this year's innovators contest:
Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
omg Launchbar for life...should be built into the system.
In this Nancy Drew mystery, Nancy goes to the beach and gets sand trapped in her shoe.
This could explain how you got it trapped in your vagina!
I'm serious, if that sand in your vagina doesn't get released, you could become a walking timebomb...
If I had mod points, I'd give that a +1 informative. Gotta respect a /. user ID under 2000 anyway. ;)
Thank you - it's much clearer now. I get what the other poster was saying about linking, no wonder he seemed a little confused by my question!
Not to mention that details exist everywhere that make it more comfortable & attractive as well. From the animated login screen to the automatically rezizing preferences windows (try that win or linux, sorry just not as easy or accessible right now), it is truly done well. If you don't like it just admit it, but don't stay on the fence, or worse try to tell how bad the interface of OSX is when you know that's not the case at all.