Introduction

Thank you, Apple!

Once again you’ve raised the bar for your competitors and knocked the socks off the rest of us. Mountain Lion is not only the best-looking operating system around, it’s also the most functional and easy to use.

Some of you may be rolling your eyes right now; all computers use the file and folder concept and some sort of colorful user interface, so there couldn’t be that much difference between OS X and its competitors, right? Wrong! I don’t just say this because of some blind devotion to all things Apple. I’ve actually used different flavors of Windows and Linux for more than 16 years, right alongside my trusty Mac, so experience has been my teacher. If I have any devotion to Apple, there are plenty of good reasons why, the subject of this book being the first.

Readers of this book who are already Mac users understand exactly what I’m talking about. For those of you moving from other computing platforms, it’s my desire that by the end of this book you have a new perspective on computing and see what it means to have fun while working with your computer.

With OS X Mountain Lion Portable Genius you learn much more than the basics. You learn the subtle nuances, and little tips and tricks that make using your Mac that much easier. I cover the gamut, from printing files, surfing the Internet, and using e-mail, to partitioning your hard drive, automating repetitive tasks, and troubleshooting pesky problems (with a little bit of geeky humor thrown in for good measure).

I hope this book will do justice to OS X Mountain Lion, which isn’t just a computer operating system, but an art form.

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