More and more people are making the move from Windows-based PCs to Macs. Security issues, virus scares, problems with Vista - you name it, everyone has a reason to turn their backs on Windows, and for many people Linux isn't the answer just yet. So they turn to Apple.

I've actually contemplated the move, even though I'm not running Vista on anything yet and have only had one major virus in the past seven or eight years. Two things have always held me back: price, and the learning curve.

Well, now I've only got one excuse. Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition -- by the man who started the Missing Manual editions to begin with, is written to ease the transition between Windows-based PCs and Macs running OS X. Nothing is left out - in the first chapter, David Pogue even shows you how to turn on your new Mac!

Differences between Macs and PCs are covered right up front, and Pogue shows that the Mac OS, while a bit different, does many of the same things that you've always done on your PC. He explains differences in terminology so well that anyone, no matter how computer illiterate, could understand him. One of the things I've always wondered about is how to right-click using a one-button mouse. Pogue shows that it can be done, and shows how to customize your Mac mouse to imitate the mouse you're used to - a very valuable thing for me.

Pogue does an outstanding job of showing exactly how the Mac environment works, and how everything is structured. Then he starts explaining key differences between the PC and Mac versions of your favorite software. He covers Safari (though I'm still partial to Firefox, and would probably run it even on a Mac), Mail, and iChat quite well in Part Three, and parental controls and security in Part Four.

But the most useful part for me, and for many Mac noobs, is going to be Chapter 8: Windows on Macintosh. Pogue covers Boot Camp, and running a Windows partition on your new Mac. This is going to be more and more common as Windows refugees flock to Mac machines but still want their old software to work. I know that I'd have to run a Windows partition on my Mac - I've spent too much money on some of this software to just run out and buy new versions of it to run on a Mac. Chapter 8 is a short one, but I think that it's one that people will be referring to time and again as they get their feet wet in the world of OS X.

There's no denying that Apple makes some attractive machines. Even the under-powered, under-featured Air looks sweet. And there's still a counter-culture, stick it to the corporate monolith I hate Microsoft attitude that comes with owning a Mac. While I don't think that Apple will ever have a majority share of the personal computer market, I think that people are going to be switching over to Macs now more than ever. For those folks, Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition is essential. Just like the cover of every Missing Manual book says, it's "the book that should have been in the box."