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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Panther books in competition, Missing Manual wins, April 25, 2004
Gene Steinberg has written many books about the OS X operating system for Macintosh computers, including Mac OS X (2000), Upgrading and Troubleshooting Your Mac: Mac OS X Edition (2001), Mac OS X Version 10.2 Jaquar Little Black Book (2002), Moving to the OS X Painlessly (2003), and now a new edition of his Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Little Black Book (Paraglyph Press, 2004). He knows the operating system.The Panther Little Black Book recognizes the attractions of OS 10.3 -- more stability and more features. The book focuses on the new features, but not the iLife features. The 22 chapters cover what's hot, upgrading to Panther, user preferences, the Finder, desktop management, setup for multiple users, search feature, networking, AppleScript, installing programs, setting up hardware and peripherals, laptop tools, OS X applications, using older programs with Panther, font management, backups, security, troubleshooting, the Unix environment, surfing the net, email software, and hub applications. As the back cover states, this book is a guide for using, troubleshooting, and customizing the Panther operating system. It is a how-to book, albeit a technical manual. The book opens with the chapter on what's hot that discusses Darwin, Quartz, Cocoa, Carbon, Aqua - information for programmers, and continues with comments about Classic, Finder, and Dock - information for general users. Despite the opening, a programmer would be disappointed with the book as it is basic how-to manual that covers, for example, the page close, minimize, and maximize buttons on the top left of windows and other such basic steps for using the OS 10.3 system. For users upgrading from OS 9, Steinberg provides a useful chart listing where to find features that have moved or disappeared with OS X (page 41). Comparisons in the text to OS versions older than OS 9 do not help solve a current problem; such information could similarly be compiled in a chart. Among the book's weaknesses are the illustrations showing the computer screen, which are printed in black and white and in relatively small size so the text is difficult to read. The writing in the book is occasionally awkward; for example (page 12): "The famous Apple desktop isn't left untouched by the Mac OS X. Although on the surface it looks very different, looks can be deceiving." And some of the advice is trivial: "When you're finished working on your PowerBook, simply close the cover and pop it into a drawer. This is a great way to keep a neat desk" (page 371). When looking up screen options, I found myself flipping from section to section in the book in search of information that would enable me to make an informed choice, but usually to no avail. The Panther Little Black Book is advertised as the "concise problem solver." At 548 pages, it is "concise" when compared to the competition provided by David Pogue's Mac OS X The Missing Manual, Panther Edition (Pogue Press, 2003), which now in its third edition has 728 pages. Comparison is natural in the highly competitive market for user's guides. This reviewer's library has both The Missing Manual and Little Black Book (as well as Jim Heid's Macintosh iLife, an Interactive Guide to iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD, Peachpit Press, 2003). If I had to keep -- or to buy -- one book, it would be The Missing Manual, as it is more comprehensive, more readable, better organized, easier to use, and more applicable to my needs than the Little Black Book.
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