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Product Description

Is Windows giving you pause? Ready to make the leap to the Mac instead? There has never been a better time to switch from Windows to Mac, and this incomparable guide will help you make a smooth transition. New York Times columnist and Missing Manuals creator David Pogue gets you past three challenges: transferring your stuff, assembling Mac programs so you can do what you did with Windows, and learning your way around Mac OS X.

Why is this such a good time to switch? Upgrading from one version of Windows to another used to be simple. But now there's Windows Vista, a veritable resource hog that forces you to relearn everything. Learning a Mac is not a piece of cake, but once you do, the rewards are oh-so-much better. No viruses, worms or spyware. No questionable firewalls, inefficient permissions, or other strange features. Just a beautiful machine with a thoroughly reliable system. And if you're still using Windows XP, we've got you covered, too.

If you're ready to take on Mac OS X Leopard, the latest edition of this bestselling guide tells you everything you need to know:

• Transferring your stuff -- Moving photos, MP3s, and Microsoft Office documents is the easy part. This book gets you through the tricky things: extracting your email, address book, calendar, Web bookmarks, buddy list, desktop pictures, and MP3 files.



• Re-creating your software suite -- Big-name programs (Word, Photoshop, Firefox, Dreamweaver, and so on) are available in both Mac and Windows versions, but hundreds of other programs are available only for Windows. This guide identifies the Mac equivalents and explains how to move your data to them.



• Learning Leopard -- Once you've moved into the Mac, a final task awaits: Learning your way around. Fortunately, you're in good hands with the author of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, the #1 bestselling guide to the Macintosh.

Customer Reviews:

• Awesome!!
  I have recently moved from PC to a MacBook. After being a PC guy for the past 20 plus years, I found it very difficult to figure out how to do things with the MAC. Everything is different on the Mac OS. The first time I tried to change from PC to Mac I became frustrated and returned to the PC. A few months later, I decided to give it another try. This book has been a savior! This really is the book that should come with the MAC. It is very complete without being a "techie" manual. I can easily find the things I am looking for and they are easy to understand. There is even a section that describes what I use to do on a PC and how to do it on the Mac. If you are switching from a PC to Mac, definitely buy this book!
  The Missing Manual also makes a similar book titled "Mac OS X Leopard". They both have a lot of the same stuff in them. "OS X Leopard" can get a little more into the weeds for a newbie. "Switching to the Mac" has the section that allows to to look up what you used to do on a PC and tells you how to do it on a Mac....more info
• Good packaging
  I have to strongly disagree with the reviewer here who suggests buying the "Leopard Edition Missing Manual" instead. Yes, there is duplication of content here, but there is also content that is NOT in the other book, and I think a Windows Switcher is going to be much happier with this book than the other. In an ideal situation, I'd give them both and have them read this first.
  
  Sure, it could have been done better, and maybe there really is no need for two thick books. Maybe all the "switcher" stuff should be taken out of the "regular" book and all the "this is the way a Mac" works stuff should be taken out of this - then the two could and should be sold as a set for those who need or want both. Certainly both these books could use some trimming; they are fat and hard to handle.
  
  This is the book I'd give my wife if and when I can get her to give up her Windows PC (I hate that stupid thing and cannot wait for it to die!). She'll be much happier with this than she would be with the other book.
  
  
  
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• Missing Manual missing the Missing CD
  A year ago, after careful consideration and a lot of research, I decided to take the plunge and after many years of Windoze (since 3.1), I decided to to try a Mac. I bought "Switching to the Mac" to ease some of the pain of the transition, which it most certainly has done. There is a wealth of information in this book that is very helpful in switching over.
  
  I would have given this book a much better review except for two things. First, many of the tips on getting information and files from my Windoze machine over to the Mac simply didn't work as promised. I did eventually get most of it over, but some of it, like my Outlook Express address book I never got over. I had to reenter it manually. Overall, getting data from one to the other was not nearly as easy as I expected it to be from Pogue's book.
  
  The second major flaw is the "Missing CD" referred to throughout the manual. They claim that the information that could have been put on a CD and included with the book, and which would have driven the price of the book up several dollars, is not included, to keep the price down, but is available online. Simply put, it's not. I tried to find and download two of the promised articles, and couldn't find or download them. I send a complaint to Missing Manuals publishers, and I got an apologetic reply promising me they'd find and direct me to the articles. They never did.
  
  I'd have been a lot happier with book if they had just left the CD out, without any hollow promise that there was extra material available online.
  
  In spite of my issues, this is, basically, a good, well written and fairly complete manual. I recommend it with these two caveats:
  
  1. Don't believe that getting data from a Windoze machine to a Mac is as easy as it is portrayed in the book. Sometimes, even when a number of alternatives are given, they work, and sometimes they don't.
  
  2. The "Missing CD" is still missing.
  
  I'm now getting ready to purchase an iPhone, and am considering the Missing Manual as a possibility. But I'm not believing for a second that the "Missing CD" promised therein will actually be there.
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• A reference worth owning if you're using Leopard
  As a long-time Windows user I found myself annoyed at getting around my first Mac. Apple's site has some helpful tutorials and videos -- but this book is even better. OS X is a great operating system and Mr. Pogue's explanation and organization bring it to light. I'm still not as fast with Mac as with Windows (especially the shortcut keys) but this book got me close. I recommend it....more info
• Excellent Info
  This book has really helped me to decide that the switch from a PC to a MAC will be worth it. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering such a switch....more info
• switching to the mac
  great reference book and step instructions for mac 10.5. makes using the new os. 10.5, a delightful experience with right on topics and shortcuts. should have been included by apple with the purchase of the duel core processor and upgraded os...more info
• Great resource for...
  Very helpful resource to ease your pain during switching from PC to mac. Even mac users can earn me details....more info
• Necessity For The Windows Divorcee
  For anyone that is not familiar with the wonderful, easy world that is the Apple Macintosh, consider yourself a poor, ignorant soul. Ever since the first Macintosh computer was launched in 1984, the Mac has been the most user-friendly computer available to the masses, and with the newest operating system X Leopard Edition, the same is true, only times X!!!
  
  For existing Windows users who have decided to make the switch because they got their slick new iPod and loves the way it works or they just got a look at a Mac recently and decided it was for them this is the perfect manual for making the switch!!
  
  Covering basics like getting e-mail up and running, importing bookmarks, listening to music, viewing digital pictures and all the other important parts of everyday personal computing is all contained in this book. Written by the amazing David Pogue, every topic is covered in an easy to read manner and this manual is chock full of images on nearly every page!!
  
  For all recent Mac OS X users or people who have made the switch, this book truly SHOULD have been in the box with the OS. It's an incredibly well-written resource, and while it's full of hard data and examples, it's really fun at the same time!!
  
  ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED...more info
• Hastily stitched together snippets of author's top-selling "Big Mac"
  Pogue, author/publisher of the spot-on "Missing Manuals" - a series well-regarded for consistently delivering what it promises - ought to be keel-hauled for producing such a sloppily cobbled and pitifully proofed reissue of his widely-lauded "Mac OS-X Leopard", all under the thin veneer of a smashing title (sure got this recent switcher's attention!).
  
  Fortunately, the manual retains most of Pogue's inimitable touches of thorough attention to technical detail; by all rights it should have been a winner -- sad to say, it falls far short of that lofty target. This manual easily would have merited 4 stars for content, but instead turns out to be a second-best also-ran, flying under a false flag. Spend just a few more bucks to get the heavy-weight version of the author's authentic Leopard "Missing Manual"; while the switcher's tips appetizers are identical, the latter heaps more and fresher Leopard meat on your plate.
  
  Section (even chapter) text seems to be blatantly copied-and-pasted verbatim from "Big Mac", including give-away wording lifted from that manual such as '(page 835)' on p. 570 in this 590-page book. Even the handy 5-page 'secret' master keystroke list (Appendix C) is exactly the same as the original's Appendix E. And, annoyingly, on and on. The 'new thin aluminum keyboard' (fig 1-5, p.21) shows four keys at bottom left (like the wireless keyboard), whereas the redesigned USB keyboard sports just three widened modifier keys [Ctrl, Alt (eh, Option), and Command], confining Fn to just one key near the top.
  
  The Index -- an invaluable tool for transplants trying to come up to speed in the Mac world -- obviously hasn't been proofed, in that 'System Preferences' with 27 subentries is wedged between 'Sounds' and 'Spaces', to reappear (identically spelled, but with just one subentry) in its correct alpha position. I checked the Index in vain for 'Proxy Icon', a term foreign to Windows users; 'Formating' (a disk), that perennial Windows headache, likewise isn't referenced.
  
  In brief: This is more of a 'Missed' [in the sense of opportunity lost, or failing the mark] than a 'Missing' Manual. By all means purchase this author's Mac OS-X 'Leopard' bible rather than this repackaged version, whose title may be its sole claim to originality.
  ...more info
• Just right for the switch to Mac from a veteran Windows XP user
  With the advent of yet another Windows version, and the professed capability to have Windows and Mac OS on the same computer, I have made the switch (or more accurately, are in the process of divorcing Windows). This easy to read and well indexed reference has been just enough information to get me from my IBM Thinkpad with Windows XP to the MacBook Pro running Windows XP in a VMware Fusion virtual machine. It is amazing to have the Windows toolbar at the bottom of the screen and the Mac doc on the side.
  
  It doesn't have all the answers, but with the documentation that accompanies the VMware Fusion I have all I've needed, and not too much fluff or technical verbage in the way. I stumbled into the book while traveling, but it is the one I needed to make the transition smooth, yet keep an understanding of how it works at the user level.
  
  The perfect addition to the sparse (but necessary) manuals that accompany your new Mac, and a copy of VMware Fusion. ...more info
• Perfect for the long time Windows User
  As a 20 year Windows user I purchased the new imac along with this book. So far everything I have needed to make the transition has been covered in the book. I am thrilled with the new imac, operating system, and Apple way and I hope books like this one will get others to make the switch....more info