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."
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As a long-time Windows user I found myself annoyed at getting around my first Mac. Apple's site has some helpful tutorials and videos -- but this book is even better. OS X is a great operating system and Mr. Pogue's explanation and organization bring it to light. I'm still not as fast with Mac as with Windows (especially the shortcut keys) but this book got me close.