Chapter 1: OS X Mavericks 101 (Prerequisites: None)

     Congratulate yourself on choosing OS X, which stands for (Macintosh) Operating System X — that’s the Roman numeral ten, not the letter X (pronounced ten, not ex). You made a smart move because you scored more than just an operating-system upgrade. OS X Mavericks includes several new features that make using your Mac easier and dozens of improvements that help you do more work in less time.
     In this chapter, I start at the very beginning and talk about OS X in mostly abstract terms; then I move on to explain what you need to know to use OS X Mavericks successfully.
     If you’ve been using OS X for a while, some of the information in this chapter may seem hauntingly familiar; a number of features that I describe haven’t changed from earlier versions of OS X. But if you decide to skip this chapter because you think you have all the new stuff figured out, I assure you that you’ll miss at least a couple of things that Apple didn’t bother to tell you (as if you read every word in OS X Help — the only user manual Apple provides — anyway!).
     Tantalized? Let’s rock.