Mac To Windows/Windows To Mac Phrasebook Published

Sebastopol, CA--Like travelers in a foreign land, Mac users working in Windows or Windows users working on a Mac often find themselves in unfamiliar territory with no guidebook. The just-released "Crossing Platforms: A Macintosh/Windows Phrasebook", offers users a handy way of translating skills and knowledge from one platform to the other. Whether it's explaining the difference between Macintosh aliases and Windows shortcuts or explaining how a Windows user would go about setting up Internet access on a Mac, this new book provides readers a simple means to look up familiar interface elements and system features and learn how that element or feature works on the other platform.

"Crossing Platforms: A Macintosh/Windows Phrasebook" by two of the computer industry's most popular authors Adam Engst and David Pogue, is a complete translation dictionary-like (A-Z) reference book. The book's first half provides a "bilingual" education for Macintosh users learning Windows; the second half of the book is designed for Windows users learning Macintosh. "Crossing Platforms" provides a simple solution for everyone who has been confused and frustrated by the arbitrary and sometimes capricious differences between the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. This book bridges the Mac-PC knowledge gap many users are faced with when work or preference demands the use of both a PC and Mac.

Three Important Windows Differences
(taken from "The Ten Most Important Windows Differences" in "Crossing Platforms")

1.   Turning the machine on and off. There's no keyboard on/off button on the PC, as there is on every Macintosh. Instead, your PC probably has a power button on the front panel; push it to start the computer. To shut down, chose Shut Down form the Start menu at the lower-left corner of the Windows screen.
2.   Mouse buttons and contextual menus. The Windows mouse has two buttons instead of one. Use the left button for everyday clicking. Use the right mouse button where you would control-click something on the Macintosh-that is, to bring up contextual pop-up menus.
3.   Menu bars. In Windows, a separate menu bar appears at the top of every single window. There's no single menu bar at the top of the screen, as on the Macintosh.

Three Important Macintosh Differences
(taken from "The Ten Most Important Macintosh Differences" in "Crossing Platforms")

1.   Turning the machine on and off. Every modern Macintosh-laptop or desktop-has a power key on the keyboard. It's marked by a triangle or, on recent models, by a circle with a vertical line in the middle. Push this button to turn the Macintosh on; push it again to summon the "Are you sure you want to shut down" dialog box.
2.   Mouse buttons. The Macintosh mouse's single button corresponds to the left mouse button on a Windows PC. To summon the pop-up contextual menus-the right mouse button's traditional job-you Control-click something on the Macintosh.
3.   Menu bars. On the Macintosh, a single menu bar appears at the top of the screen at all times. Te commands in it change as you switch from one application to another. You won't find a separate menu bar inside every window, as you do in Windows.

About the authors:
Adam C. Engst is the editor and publisher of TidBITS, one of the oldest and largest Internet-based newsletters, distributed in five languages every week to hundreds of thousands of readers. He is the author or coauthor on numerous books and
magazine articles, including Eudora 4.2 for Windows & Macintosh, The Official AT&T WorldNet Web Discovery Guide, and the best-selling Internet Starter Kit series of books.

David Pogue, a Yale grad and former Broadway conductor, writes the back-page column for Macworld magazine. He's the author or coauthor of 15 computer, humor, and music books, including PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, Macs for Dummies, Opera for Dummies, Classical Music for Dummies, Magic for Dummies, Macworld Mac Secrets, Hard Drive (a novel), The Microsloth Joke Book, and Tales from the Tech Line.

For more information about the book, including Table of Contents, index,
author bios, and samples, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/platforms/index.html

For a cover graphic in jpeg format go to:
ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/graphics/book_covers/hi-res/1565925394.jpg

Crossing Platforms: A Macintosh/Windows Phrasebook
A Two-Way Reference
By Adam Engst & David Pogue
1st Edition November 1999 (US)
1-56592-539-4, 336 pages, $29.95 (US$)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
http://www.oreilly.com