Inside Mac OS X: Panther DVD-Rom

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Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000UV072
• Item model number: insPANdvd
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 23, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,716 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

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  #43 in	Software > Programming > Training & Tutorials
  #48 in	Software > Macintosh > Programming

Product Description

Product Description
The award-winning Digital Media Training Series? (DMTS?) presents Inside Mac OS X: Panther. In this 7-hour training DVD, instructor and video producer Dave Marcus will show you the essentials for working in this revolutionary operating system. Inside Mac OS X: Panther will help you learn everything you need to get the most from your Mac. By the end of the training you’ll feel comfortable with such topics as organizing files in the new window layout in Panther, using Exposé, working in iCal, preparing Panther for an office environment, using the Address Book, iCal, iSynch, Sherlock, iChatAV, and organizing fonts in the Font Book. This training is appropriate for intermediate users as well as those new to Mac OS X.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to OS X, March 19, 2005

By	B. Herman (Anchorage, AK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pros: A very thorough introduction to Panther OS X for novice Mac users such as recent converts from Windows PC's.

Cons: No index that would permit navigation to specific topics within a given lecture.

Target audience: Dave Marcus, the lecturer, says this DVD training video is for novice and intermediate users. In fact, novice users should know something about computers or should be recent converts from the PC world. Intermediate Mac are presumed to be OS 9 users, but could also be folks who have learned some things on their own. These users will learn a lot from this DVD, but also will have to sit through quite a bit of familiar material to do so.

Method: You listen to Marcus and watch his screen as he does things on his Mac. You can select chapters and subsections, but there is no index. Unlike a book, you cannot easily skim over what you know while looking for something unfamiliar to you except by moving the slider that gives the progress on the video. This in my opinion is not an efficient way to skim.


The major sections are
I. Workflow and System Set-Up
II. Panther Applications
III. Internet and Networking
IV. Optimization and Troubleshooting
V. Conclusion

Each of the major sections is divided into subsections that last 5-15 minutes. These relatively brief lectures allow you to watch the DVD in short time intervals rather than having to watch an hour or so per viewing.

The major applications covered include everything found in the default doc installed by Apple on the standard Macintosh. Most of the applications are explored in exhausting detail, covering each and every button on the GUI. The sole exceptions are the iLife applications of which only iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie are reviewed briefly. The reason for this is that iLife could be a DVD video all by itself (it is not offered by Digital Media). Most of the time, the depth of the presentation seemed to be appropriate for a novice mac user. The one exception was Expose, which I think could have been done in half the time. Probably the most interesting application be presented was Sherlock, which I probably never would have explored had I not seen his lecture.

Some things that were not covered, but should have been in my opinion include the following.
Software installation: it may be obvious for experienced users but may be perplexing for novices, especially when downloading applications from the web.
I would like to have seen some introductory remarks about color management, especially since this is one of the major reasons people move from the PC to the Mac.
No mention was made of the text editor. Few new users will expect the "end" key on the keyboard to take them to the end of the file as opposed to the end of the line. They are not likely to guess that Control-a and Control-e are the means of quickly moving to the beginning or end of a line.

Although this review may sound more negative than positive, I believe that this DVD would work well for most novice Panther OS X users, particularly new converts to the Mac OS such as myself. It's an easy way to learn the about the OS. However, I recommend that you also purchase a book as a reference for subsequent review of specific items. Intermediate users may find learning from a book to be more efficient than this DVD.

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring.... and full of omissions..., May 10, 2009

By	Alex Vox (Winnetka, IL) - See all my reviews

If you that lease or illiterate that you need this video to go over some very basic features of OS X it will guide you. Unfortunately, it is very incomplete. lacking of tips and shortcuts that make your OS X experience a pleasurable snap and the entire context of this program could be presented in some 10-15 minutes of well conceived video.
The presentation is poor.
You will be better off just by reading very good Apple's hep.