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Mac OS X Snow Leopard for Power Users ReviewAs a former comp sci professor and four-year Mac user, I should be the target audience for this book and that is probably why Apress sent me a copy and asked me to review it. I was so disappointed to find a book that should never have been printed. It is a book that desperately wants to be a website (or a regularly updated ebook), but as printed material, its useful shelf life can be measured in single-digit months. With the latest version of Mac OS X (Lion) already announced for a summer 2011 release, the clock is ticking and this book comes too late to be taken for anything more than a curiosity... something to glance through at the bookstore and possibly gain a few tips from, but not to buy... not at the price on my publisher-provided copy of fifty bucks (now smartly lowered to forty), but only buyable at half that.
So what's not to like? Well, look at your bookstore shelves for a book on how to use a particular application. That book has a finite useful life and if it's a Microsoft app, that's about 3-5 years. But what if the book has several dozen apps with shorter update timelines than Microsoft? Well, that means that portions of the book will become obsolete very quickly. In the case of this book, chapter 4 talks about Safari, but it is Safari 4 and not the current Safari 5 with extension support. The author notes this in the intro to chapter 4, but nothing is done to remove the now-pointless and lengthy discussion about how to hack Input Managers to get around Safari 4's lack of extension support.
Another thing that comes across fine on a website or ebook is the less formal writing style, grammar, and conversational tone that you wouldn't expect to see in a computer book that targets "power users." Thus, we get a lot of unneeded trash-talk about applications, the business models chosen by their developers, and user interface design (when you insult an app and then praise the most recent version that "fixes the problem," why bother griping about old versions that nobody is going to see?). If you can overlook the spotty grammar, endless self-promotion of the author's other books, and aging hipster tone ("Bee-yoo-teeful", "abso-frickin'-lutely", "Dude!", "What the...? Not cool guys. Not cool at all."), then there ARE some useful tips to pick up here if you already own these apps or are thinking about downloading and/or buying them. Of course, there are magazines that provide similar content (i.e. product reviews) on a regular basis and they are updated once a month and you can get years of information for the cost of the cover price of this book. Or course, there are websites that do the same thing for free.
So would I buy this book? Definitely not in print unless I could find it for less than half the cover price. Now if the ebook is regularly updated and updates are pushed to customers, then I could see this being a great investment at full price. There are numerous URLs and code/command-line snippets in this book that readers will definitely want the click-ability and copy'n'paste-ability (e.g. the 256 character search command in chapter 3 or the code on page 64 that has a bug in it caused by an error in using two if-then statements when one if-then-else is actually needed) that an ebook can provide. And the weird sizes of some pictures, odd fonts, and large blank gaps at the bottom of many pages tell me that this book was designed to be an ebook first and foremost. Buy this as an ebook (if regularly updated) or a printed copy (at half price), but watch the clock and expect to be spending a lot of time checking websites for more recent info.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard for Power Users OverviewMac OS X Snow Leopard for Power Users: Advanced Capabilities and Techniques is for Mac OS X users who want to go beyond the obvious, the standard, and the easy. If want to dig deeper into Mac OS X and maximize your skills and productivity using the world's slickest and most elegant operating system, then this is the book for you.
Written by Scott Granneman, an experienced teacher, developer, and consultant, Mac OS X for Power Users helps you push Mac OS X to the max, unveiling advanced techniques and options that you may have not known even existed. Create custom workflows and apps with Automator, run Windows programs and even Windows itself without dual-booting, and sync data on your hard drive, on your phone, and in the cloud-learn all of these techniques and more.
This is not a book that talks down to you; Mac OS X for Power Users is an essential book for experienced Mac users who are smart enough to know there is more to be known, and are ready to become power users.
What you'll learn
How to create your own custom workflows, apps, and services with one of Mac OS X's hidden gems: Automator.
How to share an external USB hard drive with a Windows and Linux users and mount a network drive using SSH
How to run Windows-or even Linux-while youíre still running Mac OS X, without dual-booting. Even run the three major operating systems-Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux-at the same time!
How to customize Safari to make it even better than it already is.
All about browser options-Chrome, Opera, Camino, Stainless, and Arora.
How to manage data on your hardrive, on your phone, and in the cloud, with almost instantaneous syncing.
How to protect yourself and your valuable data. Find out lots of great, useful info on firewalls, encryption, passwords, backup, and more.
Who this book is for
This book is for people who already know how to use their Macs but want to go beyond that. They want to be more efficient and productive, and they're not afraid to try new techniques and software to do so. They also realize how valuable their data is, and they want to protect it in the smartest ways possible.
This book is also perfect for anyone who administers a group of Macs, because they will find lots of useful methods for managing their machines and also helping them work together.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Advanced Secrets of Mac OS X
Maintaining Your Mac
Expanding Upon the Basic Tools
Using Safari to Its Fullest
Stepping Beyond Safari
Using the Internet to Its Fullest
Securing Your Mac & Networks
Backing Up Your Mac
Manipulating and Sharing Pictures
Having More Fun With Audio & Video
Key Utility Tools for Text & Archives
Digging Deep as an Admin
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