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One of the things I find most annoying about today's software is the lack of printed manuals. Buy a retail copy of Microsoft's Windows 2000 Professional upgrade for $219, and you get a 109-page booklet called "Getting Started." If you want serious documentation, the sort that used to come in the box with the software, you can buy any of several volumes from Microsoft Press for $30 to $40 a pop.
Microsoft is hardly the only offender. Some software publishers include lots of documentation, but only in electronic form, usually in Adobe Acrobat format. Acrobat pages are hard to read on screen and though they print out beautifully, who wants a manual made up of 300 loose-leaf pages?
Into this gaping hole step Pogue Press and O'Reilly & Associates (www.missingmanual.com) with a new series of books called "The Missing Manual: The Book That Should Have Been in the Box." The first in the series, by publisher/author David Pogue, covers Apple Computer's Mac OS 9 operating system. Forthcoming titles will deal with AppleWorks 6, Apple iMovie, Windows 2000, and Windows Millennium Edition, which is scheduled for release this summer.
SOLVED MYSTERIES.
The Mac OS 9 book ($19.95) gives you a good idea of what you lost when they left out the manual. For example, Mac OS includes a powerful but simple tool for automating common tasks called AppleScript. There is some built-in aid available that's decent by the standards of online help. If you already know how to use AppleScript, it might help you remember a trick you've forgotten. But I defy anyone to learn how to write a script using it. By contrast, Pogue's book includes a solid 20-page chapter introducing AppleScript. The book also offers straightforward, clearly written guides to such Mac mysteries as virtual memory, application memory allotments, killing hung programs, and resolving extension conflicts.
Although O'Reilly and Pogue have chosen a compelling title for the series and the premier volume looks very promising, the Missing Manual books are not the only way to make up for the lack of printed documentation. A visit to any bookstore makes it clear that software has created a whole book industry. Despite a tendency to excessive cuteness, I've found that IDG Books' "Dummies" series is generally good, and Mac OS 9 for Dummies by Bob LeVitus and Steven Bobker ($19.95) is a worthy rival to the Pogue book.
Wildstrom is Technology & You columnist for Business Week. Watch for his Flash Product Reviews on BW Online. Have a question or comment? Leave a message on our EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT
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