Switching to the Mac Book Review

By Chuck Hajdú

Switching to the Mac, Maverick Edition, by David Pogue, is an O’Reilly book in their “the missing manual” series. If you are unfamiliar with the series they are books that O’Reilly publishing says “should have been in the box”. We could not agree more!

For many years companies have sold software and hardware without the necessary instruction manuals included. We’re not advocating going back to the 1990s when Corel, WordPerfect, Novell, etc. all tried to outdo each other with how many books they could include in a 20 pound box of software, but we think more is needed than a simple one page sheet of paper we get so often today. This is precisely the vacuum that the O’Reilly books fill. They provide the information users need when the hardware or software company drops the ball.

Before I get started let me explain where I’m coming from as a computer user. I go back a long, long way in the industry. In college in the 1970s I took computer programming courses and, yes, there really were computers back in the stone age. By the 1980s I had progressed to PCs and was considered something of an expert back in the days of DOS. I used both MS– and DR– versions and enjoyed Macro writing. I have used every version of MSFT Windows from 1.0 on. In the early-90s I even gave IBM’s OS/2 a brief shot. To this day I still have an ancient computer with DOS and GeoWorks on it that I use occasionally for nostalgic purposes (and to access really old files). As for Linux, I’ve dabbled with many, many flavors and I have several Linux computers that I use regularly.

Did you notice that nowhere in the last paragraph did I mention any product by the iFruit company (my pet name for Apple)? That’s right, after over 40 years as a computer user I have avoided becoming one of the Fan Boyz!!

So why am I exploring Mac computers now? For one thing, I have become a sort of regular iPad mini user. Not as often, or as regularly, as I use Android tablets, but often enough. Also, I am visiting my son for a couple of weeks and he has gone over to the dark side by becoming an iFruit lover. He uses iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macbooks. I figured that while I’m here I should take advantage of the opportunity to learn something new and give it a try. Who knows, at my advanced age I just may become a convert too.

For those of you who are like me and don’t follow every change in Mac software closely here is a brief rundown on the naming scheme Apple uses (all of this is on page 2). The Maverick in the title comes from OS X version 10.9, which was nicknamed “Maverick”. OS X,  by the way, is pronounced OS “ten” and not OS “Ex”. The author explains all of the other nicknames Apple has used for OS X versions over the years since Steve Jobs returned to the company and started using NeXT’s UNIX based software as the core of Apple. computers.

The book is broken down into five basic sections.

Part 1: Welcome to the Macintosh, is a crash course in the basics.

Part 2: Making the Move, tells the reader what it takes to make the move

Part 3: Mavericks Online, covers getting all aspects of getting onto the internet and setting the computer up correctly..

Part 4: Putting Down Roots, covers advanced topics like using programs and other power user topics.

Part 5: Appendixes, is a trouble shooting and FAQ section.

As I went through the book I was lucky to have my son’s Macbook Air by my side so that as the author covered a specific subject I was able to test what I was told on a real system. It turned out to be a real eye-opener! Of course, many of the surprise features I tested may well be available on Windows or Linux systems, I just never use them! Like many an old dog, I don’t need to learn something new if something old works just fine for me. Anything that requires a thumb and three fingers on a touchpad simultaneously is just beyond what I want to do! My fingers are too big and arthritic!

As I went through each chapter of the book I used the Macbook Air that I had available to me as a test platform for the information I was trying to absorb. And believe me, there is a lot to absorb! Each of the 800 pages has explanations, hints, tips and illustrations to explain something. This really is a perfect example of a complete instruction manual.

The author has a nice, light writing style that seems to fit the concept of a Mac user perfectly. In addition, the entire book is well illustrated so the reader can clearly see what they should see on their computer.

After using a real Macbook I decided to try something totally different: an older Lenovo Netbook computer using Zorin OS 8.1 and their Mac desktop look!

The Ultimate version of Zorin OS includes various “looks” which can be accessed by their Look Changer app. We have used the free version In the past and love the Win7 look. The Ultimate version adds Win2k, Unity and Mac OS X to the Win7, WinXp and GNOME 2 looks included in the free version.

I was very impressed with the OS X look of Zorin. No, it isn’t perfect but if you are a Mac user then you will feel more comfortable using Linux with the Mac look than any of the others.

After finishing the book and actually using Apple’s OS (10) for a week the bottom line for me is: thanks, but no thanks. I love my PCs and will continue to use Win7 and Win8, Google Chromebooks and Linux (especially Zorin OS 8.1 with the Win7 look). Macs are just a bit too different for me.

However, if you are a long time user of another OS and you switch to a Mac, then you really need this book. It makes the learning curve shorter and can be a very useful tool.

MSRP is $29.99 for the print edition and $23.99 for the eBook editions which are available in DAISY, ePub, Mobi and PDF formats. It’s $32.99 for both print and eBook editions.

www.oreilly.com/product/0636920031000.do#