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Windows Vista: the Missing Manual
John Suda writes "It's been over five years in the making and its nearly perfect. No,
Im not referring to Microsoft's vast new operating system named Windows
Vista, but to the reference book Windows Vista: the Missing Manual,
by author David Pogue. The book is the latest, and perhaps best, in the Missing
Manual series published by Pogue Press / O'Reilly Media, Inc. The Missing
Manual series is the benchmark of quality for computer manuals. Unless youre
a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference
source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista." Read below for the rest of John's review.
Windows Vista: the Missing Manual
author
David Pogue
pages
848
publisher
O'Reilly Media
rating
9
reviewer
John Suda
ISBN
0596528272
summary
The only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista
Vista is the long-awaited successor to Windows XP and it is a major overhaul and upgrade of that operating system. It was designed primarily to address long-standing security issues with XP and its predecessors, but it also has a vastly new look and feel graphically and in operating features. It comes with a large number of new programs and features and its innards have been significantly beefed up, as it is a 64 bit operating system, focused on the intermediate future of computing hardware and software.
There are so many changes in Vista that it would take perhaps a dozen pages just to provide a bare-bones description of everything. You dont get any written material from Microsoft when you buy Vista. There are digital support and help resources built in and available elsewhere for Vista, but they are not convenient to use and they are relatively limited in scope and depth. Vista, the Missing Manual, provides the information Microsoft doesnt. It covers all five North American versions of Vista. Page 6 has a handy comparison chart of each version. The beginning of every content section refers to which version of Vista the discussion applies.
This Missing Manual uses every bit of 827 pages (including index) to provide similar descriptive and informational material as the built-in Vista sources, but provides much, much more:
Beyond mere description of features and functions, the book explains and evaluates all of the major (and many of the minor) changes from Windows XP to the new Vista. The introductory chapter itemizes all of the most important changes providing perspective on what Microsoft has done with the new operating system. It also highlights some of the more significant interface changes the new search tool, the revised Start Menu, and the new ribbon bar.
The author notes, at every point relevant, the options a user has in either using a new Vista feature, or in reconfiguring the operating experience to return to pre-existing features and the aesthetic elements of Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.
Pogue provides an expert users perspective on the value of the changes and new features in Vista. Some things are improvements and upgrades; others are rated as inferior to what was before. If you dont like the new or changed feature, Pogue guides you how to revert to previous iterations of the featuress, or otherwise provides workarounds.
Pogue is great at providing an expert users perspective on working with the operating system efficiently and pragmatically. He doesnt just describe a feature or function but includes tips and guides on how to be more efficient and practical with it and provides reference to other resources available for additional information or guidance. The Manual is written so that one almost feels that they are getting a one-on-one, hands-on lesson, in using Windows Vista. He represents the Alpha-geek relative you might have to help you out when you cant figure out how to do or fix something.
Beyond all of the information, guidance and perspectives, Pogue has a great writing style. The writing is sprinkled with wit, sarcasm, and good-natured humor, extremely rare for a computer related book. Microsoft gets more than a few slams for its many foibles, all well earned. WordPad, for example, no longer opens Word files!
The author writes for multiple levels of need and understanding. He details the basics of Windows Vista for beginners, provides richer material in breadth and depth for intermediate users, and a good amount of material useful for power users, both informationally and in advanced tips. There are many sidebars sprinkled throughout called Power Users Clinic which offer more technical tips, shortcuts, and information to PC veterans.
There is a lot new to Vista. The most important, if not the most noticeable, are the security enhancements. Microsoft now has a user account control which limits installation of new applications to a user who has administrative permissions. By default, the operating system generates accounts for simple users, without the ability to allow installation of new programs. There is a full page of FAQs just regarding the user account control.
A major security upgrade is service hardening which prevents access to the all-important system files by outsiders or unauthorized users. Other new security elements are the Windows Defender program designed to prevent spyware installs, a phishing filter in Internet Explorer, parental controls, protected mode, drive encryption, address space randomization, and much more. That list doesnt even include a new backup program to help protect users from nonfeasance in basic computer operations (although the author recommends third-party software.)
What is most noticeable is the appearance of the desktop, windows, icons, system font (Sergoe UI), and interface features. These are all redesigned to take advantage the vastly enhanced graphic capabilities of Vista referred to as Aero. The Start Menu has been redesigned to be easier to use. The conventional menu bar for the desktop and most application windows has been replaced with a content-based ribbon bar.
There is a lengthy list of new applications, most significantly Windows response to Apple Macintoshs iLife suite of media applications. In Vista, these are the Photo Gallery, Calendar, DVD Maker, Media Player 11, and DVD Maker. It adds to that group, Meeting Space, which is a collaboration program for local network users.
The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again.
Mr. Pogue is an accomplished writer and computer expert having authored over 40 books, including 17 of the Missing Manual series. Hes well regarded as the weekly technology columnist for the New York Times and a correspondent for CBSs News Sunday Morning. Hes been assisted here by four other experts who contributed chapters or parts of chapters to this manual. The writing is clear, concise, and jargon free. The book provides a fair evaluation of Microsofts latest operating system and gives it good grades overall. Pogue routinely points out the areas that Microsoft has unashamedly copied from Apple Macintosh, and notes it as a good thing.
The book is organized into eight parts including a set of appendices. These include the Desktop (or user workspace), the Vista software, Online and Internet connection matters, the new Pictures, Movie, and Media applications, hardware and peripherals, PC health and maintenance, and networking with Vista. The page layout is clean. The book is filled with hundreds of screenshots and numerous step-by-step instructions on nearly all of Vistas elements. The discussion is comprehensive and deep.
Part One explains the Desktop and whats new, including the Welcome Center, Start Menu, and the greatly enhanced search tool which graces every window and the desktop itself. It now offers natural language searching for the first time. For those using older hardware which may not be up to par for Aeros graphic demands, Pogue provides a handful of suggested speed tweaks. A full 10 pages is devoted to Microsofts improved speech recognition system, including a large handful of insights from an experienced user of such software. The author is a fan of Dragon s Naturally Speaking program, but gives good reviews to Vistas capabilities.
Part Two contains most of the material on the new programs and the improved programs Internet Explorer and its new RSS capability, tabs, and search bar, Mail (the Outlook replacement), and the Control Panel, which now contains at least 50 icons for mini-applications, wizards, links, and folders. Chapter 8 provides an applet by applet description. Dealing with the Internet with Internet Explorer and Mail comprises most of Part Three. There is a comprehensive section on connecting to the Internet with the growing number of methods-cable, DSL, dial-up, WiFi, cell, etc.
The media applications are covered in detail in Part Four including comparisons of Microsofts media applications to iTunes and Zune. The discussion of Media Center includes tips on managing recorded TV and setting up media hardware. Part Five deals with the fax, print, and scan functions and hardware related matters. Especially interesting are the printer tricks and the section on laptops, tablets, palm tops and hand-recognition software.
For maintenance, troubleshooting, and problem solving, there is a trio of chapters in Part Six covering disk maintenance and repair, the new dynamic discs feature, compression and encryption, and backups. Geeks may be interested in knowing how to uncover the hidden controls for the new improved firewall. Pogue even provides material on energy conservation and how to configure Vista to work most efficiently for the user.
Part Seven covers the basics of accounts and networks. There is a lot new in Vista, especially in regard to its separate users architecture. The difference between workgroup and domain networks is explained clearly. Sharing and collaboration functions are explained and there is a comprehensive and deep section on remote control using a multitude of methods.
The appendices are great. Appendix A. discusses the installation of Vista in a comprehensive, systematic manner, from pre-purchase and installation considerations, to making decisions about upgrades or clean installs, to dual booting. He describes the new Welcome Center which aggregates many of the initial configurations for a user, or for multiple users.
Appendix B. is cheekily titled Fun with the Registry and is an introduction, with examples, to the notorious registry which is carried over from XP and predecessors. Most authors writing for this level of reader tend to avoid discussion of the registry, but Pogue provides just enough material to intrigue the intermediate user.
Appendix C. is a short itemization of whats missing in Vista from previous Windows operating systems. It makes it easy to figure out why something youve used before cant be located and used. Appendix D. is a master list of keyboard shortcuts for both the operating system and its major applications, like Internet Explorer 7, and the new Windows Mail.
There is no wasted space or text in this book. Its worth every cent of its $34.95 price. As a small bonus, copies of shareware programs mentioned in the book are conveniently available for download at www.missingmanual.com.
You can purchase Microsoft's Vista: the Missing Manual from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Vista is the long-awaited successor to Windows XP and it is a major overhaul and upgrade of that operating system. It was designed primarily to address long-standing security issues with XP and its predecessors, but it also has a vastly new look and feel graphically and in operating features. It comes with a large number of new programs and features and its innards have been significantly beefed up, as it is a 64 bit operating system, focused on the intermediate future of computing hardware and software.
There are so many changes in Vista that it would take perhaps a dozen pages just to provide a bare-bones description of everything. You dont get any written material from Microsoft when you buy Vista. There are digital support and help resources built in and available elsewhere for Vista, but they are not convenient to use and they are relatively limited in scope and depth. Vista, the Missing Manual, provides the information Microsoft doesnt. It covers all five North American versions of Vista. Page 6 has a handy comparison chart of each version. The beginning of every content section refers to which version of Vista the discussion applies.
This Missing Manual uses every bit of 827 pages (including index) to provide similar descriptive and informational material as the built-in Vista sources, but provides much, much more:
Beyond mere description of features and functions, the book explains and evaluates all of the major (and many of the minor) changes from Windows XP to the new Vista. The introductory chapter itemizes all of the most important changes providing perspective on what Microsoft has done with the new operating system. It also highlights some of the more significant interface changes the new search tool, the revised Start Menu, and the new ribbon bar.
The author notes, at every point relevant, the options a user has in either using a new Vista feature, or in reconfiguring the operating experience to return to pre-existing features and the aesthetic elements of Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.
Pogue provides an expert users perspective on the value of the changes and new features in Vista. Some things are improvements and upgrades; others are rated as inferior to what was before. If you dont like the new or changed feature, Pogue guides you how to revert to previous iterations of the featuress, or otherwise provides workarounds.
Pogue is great at providing an expert users perspective on working with the operating system efficiently and pragmatically. He doesnt just describe a feature or function but includes tips and guides on how to be more efficient and practical with it and provides reference to other resources available for additional information or guidance. The Manual is written so that one almost feels that they are getting a one-on-one, hands-on lesson, in using Windows Vista. He represents the Alpha-geek relative you might have to help you out when you cant figure out how to do or fix something.
Beyond all of the information, guidance and perspectives, Pogue has a great writing style. The writing is sprinkled with wit, sarcasm, and good-natured humor, extremely rare for a computer related book. Microsoft gets more than a few slams for its many foibles, all well earned. WordPad, for example, no longer opens Word files!
The author writes for multiple levels of need and understanding. He details the basics of Windows Vista for beginners, provides richer material in breadth and depth for intermediate users, and a good amount of material useful for power users, both informationally and in advanced tips. There are many sidebars sprinkled throughout called Power Users Clinic which offer more technical tips, shortcuts, and information to PC veterans.
There is a lot new to Vista. The most important, if not the most noticeable, are the security enhancements. Microsoft now has a user account control which limits installation of new applications to a user who has administrative permissions. By default, the operating system generates accounts for simple users, without the ability to allow installation of new programs. There is a full page of FAQs just regarding the user account control.
A major security upgrade is service hardening which prevents access to the all-important system files by outsiders or unauthorized users. Other new security elements are the Windows Defender program designed to prevent spyware installs, a phishing filter in Internet Explorer, parental controls, protected mode, drive encryption, address space randomization, and much more. That list doesnt even include a new backup program to help protect users from nonfeasance in basic computer operations (although the author recommends third-party software.)
What is most noticeable is the appearance of the desktop, windows, icons, system font (Sergoe UI), and interface features. These are all redesigned to take advantage the vastly enhanced graphic capabilities of Vista referred to as Aero. The Start Menu has been redesigned to be easier to use. The conventional menu bar for the desktop and most application windows has been replaced with a content-based ribbon bar.
There is a lengthy list of new applications, most significantly Windows response to Apple Macintoshs iLife suite of media applications. In Vista, these are the Photo Gallery, Calendar, DVD Maker, Media Player 11, and DVD Maker. It adds to that group, Meeting Space, which is a collaboration program for local network users.
The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again.
Mr. Pogue is an accomplished writer and computer expert having authored over 40 books, including 17 of the Missing Manual series. Hes well regarded as the weekly technology columnist for the New York Times and a correspondent for CBSs News Sunday Morning. Hes been assisted here by four other experts who contributed chapters or parts of chapters to this manual. The writing is clear, concise, and jargon free. The book provides a fair evaluation of Microsofts latest operating system and gives it good grades overall. Pogue routinely points out the areas that Microsoft has unashamedly copied from Apple Macintosh, and notes it as a good thing.
The book is organized into eight parts including a set of appendices. These include the Desktop (or user workspace), the Vista software, Online and Internet connection matters, the new Pictures, Movie, and Media applications, hardware and peripherals, PC health and maintenance, and networking with Vista. The page layout is clean. The book is filled with hundreds of screenshots and numerous step-by-step instructions on nearly all of Vistas elements. The discussion is comprehensive and deep.
Part One explains the Desktop and whats new, including the Welcome Center, Start Menu, and the greatly enhanced search tool which graces every window and the desktop itself. It now offers natural language searching for the first time. For those using older hardware which may not be up to par for Aeros graphic demands, Pogue provides a handful of suggested speed tweaks. A full 10 pages is devoted to Microsofts improved speech recognition system, including a large handful of insights from an experienced user of such software. The author is a fan of Dragon s Naturally Speaking program, but gives good reviews to Vistas capabilities.
Part Two contains most of the material on the new programs and the improved programs Internet Explorer and its new RSS capability, tabs, and search bar, Mail (the Outlook replacement), and the Control Panel, which now contains at least 50 icons for mini-applications, wizards, links, and folders. Chapter 8 provides an applet by applet description. Dealing with the Internet with Internet Explorer and Mail comprises most of Part Three. There is a comprehensive section on connecting to the Internet with the growing number of methods-cable, DSL, dial-up, WiFi, cell, etc.
The media applications are covered in detail in Part Four including comparisons of Microsofts media applications to iTunes and Zune. The discussion of Media Center includes tips on managing recorded TV and setting up media hardware. Part Five deals with the fax, print, and scan functions and hardware related matters. Especially interesting are the printer tricks and the section on laptops, tablets, palm tops and hand-recognition software.
For maintenance, troubleshooting, and problem solving, there is a trio of chapters in Part Six covering disk maintenance and repair, the new dynamic discs feature, compression and encryption, and backups. Geeks may be interested in knowing how to uncover the hidden controls for the new improved firewall. Pogue even provides material on energy conservation and how to configure Vista to work most efficiently for the user.
Part Seven covers the basics of accounts and networks. There is a lot new in Vista, especially in regard to its separate users architecture. The difference between workgroup and domain networks is explained clearly. Sharing and collaboration functions are explained and there is a comprehensive and deep section on remote control using a multitude of methods.
The appendices are great. Appendix A. discusses the installation of Vista in a comprehensive, systematic manner, from pre-purchase and installation considerations, to making decisions about upgrades or clean installs, to dual booting. He describes the new Welcome Center which aggregates many of the initial configurations for a user, or for multiple users.
Appendix B. is cheekily titled Fun with the Registry and is an introduction, with examples, to the notorious registry which is carried over from XP and predecessors. Most authors writing for this level of reader tend to avoid discussion of the registry, but Pogue provides just enough material to intrigue the intermediate user.
Appendix C. is a short itemization of whats missing in Vista from previous Windows operating systems. It makes it easy to figure out why something youve used before cant be located and used. Appendix D. is a master list of keyboard shortcuts for both the operating system and its major applications, like Internet Explorer 7, and the new Windows Mail.
There is no wasted space or text in this book. Its worth every cent of its $34.95 price. As a small bonus, copies of shareware programs mentioned in the book are conveniently available for download at www.missingmanual.com.
You can purchase Microsoft's Vista: the Missing Manual from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Will the book come with weekly updates?
Vista Help Forum
Windows Vista Help Forum
Is DVD Maker so good you had to say it twice?... I'm still not sold on it.....
"Stallman says add to this code and you are one of us. Gates says use this code and you belong to us."
Vista hasn't really been in consumer use enough to know what kind of problems people will hit in the real world. Surely this is a bit premature?
Cheers,
Ian
...Do you want to read it?
Yes/No?
its innards have been significantly beefed up, as it is a 64 bit operating system
So was XP. What else about it is "beefy" without also being labeled "cruft"?
Developers: We can use your help.
"You scumbag you maggot! You cheap lazy faggot! New OS your ass and thank god its your last!"
I really can't understand why MS isn't creating a good Windows manual for its OS products. A neat, home-printable pdf e-book explaining their flagship product afterall.
"Sum Ergo Cogito"
Here ya go.
"200 Quatloos on the newcomer!" "300 Quatloos against!"
2. Load Dreamscape and play the cool volcano video on your desktop.
3. Say "Wow, that's nice, but my processor is pegged according to this gadget thingy".
4. Lunch time, so open 'Hold em' and kick ass at Poker while eating your sandwich.
5. When it is time to get some work done, Load VMWare and boot Windows XP.
My wife and I were very happy for many years, then we met."
"We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
This Missing Manual uses every bit of 827 pages (including index) to provide similar descriptive and informational material as the built-in Vista sources [....]
The index provides "descriptive and informational material"? Sounds like an odd kind of index to me...
http://www.skullsecurity.org/blog/
"The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again."
Gadgets don't save configurations? That is a lie.
Can you run OSX on a PC?
You are attempting to read a book review about Windows Vista on Slashdot.
Cancel or Allow?
Vista has been out in general availability for 2 weeks and you already lost the manual?
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
But what else can they do? They so heavily vendor locked into Microsoft they have to pay the protection money. There will be no Vijay Verma for them riding into the pier to clean up the mess.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The sidebar doesn't save your settings and you have to start over? I've been using Vista since pre-Beta 1 and I've never had to reset my sidebar widgets once.. (though I never really used the Sidebar until RTM, it still kept my zipcode for weather and stuff)
Perhaps before writing this review, the author should've read the missing manual for the English language. There's something called an apostrophe. I highly recommend using it.
Dear diary: Today I stuffed some dolls full of dead rats I put in the blender.
Only slightly on topic, but my Karma doesn't care - and I want as many people as possible to see this. :)
/. article:
2 2237
I expect a certain number of security holes in any massive software undertaking. But I couldn't let this go by without referencing a recent
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/13/19
Which to me says "wow, MS still got it ALL wrong"
Notwithstanding a raft of smaller ones, there's basically two big security problems in Windows - 1) ActiveX et al and 2) a totally improper use of Admin/user privs.
The whole #2 problem is basically: Too damn many things make you need to login as admin to do, so it's way too easy to grant high privs to something malicious. In OS X you're never "logged in" as admin, you sudo as necessary for specific actions. Same is good practice in Linux. And in both cases, you need to do that as rarely as possible; you can do everything a user could want without being root.
But Vista apparently lets a normal user run random exes they've added to the system, (as it must be, for my definition of a "normal user") but _doesn't_ let them run anything Vista detects as an installer, no matter how unimportant the installer is. Meaning, "of course my new solitaire game needs complete and total access to my system" is par for the course. Instead of "boy, anything that needs admin privs must be VERY important and should come with a stern warning"
I HOPE that Vista has fewer problems with having apps that must-run-as-admin, and fewer problems with applications that can only be installed as admin but then can only be run by the user who installed them. (This is rampant in XP... I don't know if Vista has a "sudo" functionality the way OS X and Linux do and XP didn't, really. "run-as" doesn't have the capability of giving the files the nonadmin-user's ownership, which is the critical missing feature.)
But they've already demonstrated a continued disregard for the basic principles of privileges. *sigh*
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
Yes, you are. And you forgot the link for our linguistically-challenged readers: pedantic. You also forgot to capitalize a few letters. If you're going to be pedantic, at least do it properly. ;-)
I just installed Vista for the first time. I opened up the command line prompt (that was a challenge) and typed "man vista", and you know what it told me? Command not found. What the fuck is that?
Long ago, in a virtual software galaxy far away, one of the developers involved in the design of the Xerox Star told me, "if you need a manual to figure out how to use a computing environment, it wasn't properly designed."
The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again.
Actually, this "warning" of losing preferences when closing gadgets also applies Apple's Dashboard: any widget removed from the Dashboard loses its preferences. The act of moving a gadget (widget) from the Gallery (Shelf) into the Sidebar (Dashboard) is what instantiaties a new gadget (widget). Persistence of configuration data is only acheived by keeping the gadget (or widget) alive. Both platforms save configuration data between logouts/shutdowns -- but for instantiated widgets (gadgets) only. Close them, and their done.
And now, some shameless self-promotion for you Vista early adopters, courtesy of lifehacker:
Turn any web widget into a Vista Gadget
The Amnesty Generator for Windows is designed to let you convert any embeddable web site widget (including Google Gadgets) into a Vista Sidebar Gadget with very little work.
Compared to Vista's Gadget library's relatively meager 275 gadgets, Google Gadgets for your web page, for example, currently sports over 3000 widgets - meaning that if you're a fan of Vista Gadgets and you want to expand your palette, the Amnesty Generator looks like a good way to do that. If this sounds at all familiar, OS X Dashboard-lovers may remember that Amnesty Generator is also available for Dashboard. Right now the generator still has a few kinks (particularly in the looks department), but in all it seems to work fairly well.
Amnesty Generator for Vista
<petpeeve>
Why are people so averse to using the associates link? Stoolpigeon has saved you some time and effort in going out to Amazon.com and looking the book up yourself. He is referring you to the book, and as such, deserves at least a miniscule amount of credit for it via the associates link.
Besides, it's not like you're going to pay more for the book if you buy it using his referral link than if you don't. If you click on his link, it's $23.09. If you look it up yourself, it's $23.09. If you use a non-referral link such as the one posted in your message, it's $23.09. The only difference is who gets $0.92 (4%) of that $23.09: Stoolpigeon of Amazon.com. While I don't have anything against Amazon.com, I figure they're making lots of money already, and it certainly wouldn't hurt them to fork over that $0.92 to someone for helping to sell products from their site.
I have a little-used associates account at Amazon.com. I know from experience that if you order something using a referral link, all that person knows is that the item was ordered, which is kind of necessary in order to know how much you've got coming to you. It doesn't tell you who ordered it, where they live, what their credit card number is, or anything else except that x number of item y's were bought.
So given the choice of clicking on Stoolpigeon's referral link or stang's non-referral link, click on the referral link. Not doing so is really pretty stupid and needlessly spiteful. Or else someone please explain to me why you think that Amazon.com deserves that extra $0.92 more than Stoolpigeon, especially when if it hadn't been for Stoolpigeon, you wouldn't have paid Amazon.com the other $22.17.
</petpeeve>
Option A: Prozac.
Option B: Get on the floor and kick and scream, until your Computer un-crashes itself.
For Nvidia SLI owners who spent a fortune on their video subsystem:
This section will be completed upon the cessation of laughter.
For AMD Graphics card users:
It is no longer necessary to say prayers before booting your computer, when it crashes, there is a 50% chance that your boot sector will remain unscathed.
Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista."
My Fiancee is not a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek. She can use both my linux laptops, and mythtv, without any need for a manual. What is in an operating system that needs a manual? If Vista needs a manual, why doesn't it come with it? I'm sure that Office 4.3 came with thousands of pages of printed material, but now you drop a few hundered quid on a shiny DVD, put it in, and then are expected to pay mroe for a book!
I have never YET used Vista, nor have I seen this particular book. But I HAVE bought one of the book's (and Operating System's) predecessors. By that I mean to refer to "Windows 2000: The Missing Manual" (part of the same series), and I was immensely satisfied with it because it filled all the needs for immediate knowledge that I had at the time.
</p><p>
<b<Microsoft DOES NOT DO ANYONE ANY JUSTICE</b> when they leave out such incredibly pertinent amounts of information as I HAD TO FIND in a THIRD-PARTY book (series) like these. And I am not complaining about the book series, the one book I have is still excellent. It is just a SHAME that Microsoft could really "care less".
</p><p>
<b>Microsoft should be UTTERLY ASHAMED that people known for excellent documentation about OPEN SOURCE software can actually write BETTER MANUALS than Microsoft (known for closed-source commercial software, amongst other unsavory connotations) can, about their own CLOSED SOURCE software!!!</b>
</p><p>
Ironically ("yeah right!"), I actually wonder if Microsoft actually (subtly?) encourages people to "find out on their own" by writing or buying (or reading) books from series like these. Aside from their huge fees for their own "Microsoft Press" materials, that is (Pah!)
</p><p>
In short, based on previous experience with the book about Windows 2000, if I had Windows Vista, this book reviewed here would ideally be the FIRST BOOK I would want to purchase regarding it, and recommend to others as well.
</p>
9/11 Was An Inside Job! http://www.InfoWars.com/
"Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista."
So... it's probably the only reference source you'll need unless you read Slashdot. Good story!In the new utopia there will be no apostrophe.