Many of us have already installed Leopard; many more will undoubtedly do so in the next six months. There are reportedly more than 300 new features in Leopard. What's the best way to familiarize yourself with all these features and decide which ones to use?

The clear and unequivocal answer is "It depends!" There are at least three approaches. The first is: "I'll just start using it and learn as I go along. I don't need no stinkin' manuals." The second is: "I'll read the manual(s) first and then I'll start using Leopard." The third, which I suspect many of us use, is: "I'll read some parts of a manual, then I'll start using it, and I'll go back to the manual as necessary." Truthfully, there is no right way. It depends on your personality.

What manuals are available? The most comprehensive is David Pogue's Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual, an 893 page compendium of just about everything in Leopard and the OS X operating system. It's easy to read, humorous at times, insightful, and well researched. The retail price is about $35, but I've seen it for as low as $20 at Amazon. O'Reilly has published Chuck Toporek's Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide, a small format 211 page book which is a handy reference that can quickly get you up to speed on Leopard in a relatively short time. It's priced at about $15. Macworld magazine has published Macworld Total Leopard Superguide (92 pages, $25) which is available as a download through Take Control Ebooks, www.takecontrolbooks.com/, for $13. Take Control Ebooks has also published a series of ebooks by a variety of authors dealing with various aspects of Leopard. In addition, if you google "leopard manuals" or go to your local bookstore, you'll see a number of books by well-known authors, including Andy Ihnatko, Robin Williams, Lynette Kent, Scott Meyers, Scott Kelby, and Brad Miser.

It's a little daunting to decide what manuals to get. I'd start with Pogue's book because it's a great resource for detailed explanations and answers. Then, perhaps, supplement Pogue's any other book that strikes your fancy.

And let's not forget - there's an amazing amount of information available on the Internet, including the Apple Web site. The page www.apple.com/support/manuals/leopard/ provides three manuals totaling 123 pages available for free download. You can also check out the Apple discussion pages at discussions.apple.com/ and go to the specific pages for Leopard. The MacFixIt forums, www.macfixitforums.com/, are a good source of answers to questions, as is the Topics Center at Macworld, www.macworld.com/topics/mac_os_x_leopard.html/. The Mac troubleshooting sites are also good sources of information. However, since they tend to be used by people with very specific problems, they are less useful for general information.

Starting March, MLMUG will hold a 30-minute session on various aspects of Leopard every other month. I'll start the sessions discussing Quick Look and Finder. Other members will discuss other aspects of Leopard during the coming year. What we're trying to do is systematically go through Leopard, give you an overview, emphasize what looks useful, and assist you in better understanding the values in Leopard.

— Mark S. Bazrod, President