O'Reilly Published Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger

For Dave Taylor, author of Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger (O'Reilly, US $19.95), the upshot of the upgrade from OS 9 is, in a word, power. The Unix system underpinning OS X is "ready to leap into action at a moment's notice," Taylor says. "All you have to do is command Unix to take action."

Command is the operative word here, since understanding the command line is fundamental to using any Unix system. But why would a contented Mac user want to type in a string of Unix commands instead of just clicking the mouse? Simple, Taylor says: because the mouse gives you access to only a fraction of Mac OS X's functionality. "To really know what your Mac's doing" and to "make it match what you want and need your Mac to do," Taylor believes you have to get acquainted with the Unix side of OS X. [Bill Fox]