With Apple poised to release OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion this month, TidBITS Publishing has published "Take Control of Upgrading to Mountain Lion," by Joe Kissell.

This ebook is for Mac users who want to understand exactly what's involved in upgrading to Mountain Lion, especially those who suspect that their Macs are not ready for the upgrade or who worry about potential problems when upgrading. Kissell details how to do a pre-upgrade check for software and hardware compatibility and fitness and provides advice on the best kind of backup to make in case of an upgrade disaster.

He also helps readers sort out their Apple IDs (a task best done before beginning the upgrade), and he describes how readers can clean up their disks for a fresh start with Mountain Lion. Special topics include discussions of upgrading from Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5, upgrading with FileVault, and partitioning.

The 81-page "Take Control of Upgrading to Mountain Lion" is available now for US$15. However, readers can drop the price to $10 with this link if they buy the ebook before Mountain Lion ships: http://tid.bl.it/tco-upgrading-mountain-lion-pr .

Those who purchase "Take Control of Upgrading to Mountain Lion" now will automatically receive a free update to a longer version of the ebook after Mountain Lion ships. The update, planned to be available almost immediately once Kissell's non-disclosure agreement with Apple is lifted, will cover full installation details, offer troubleshooting tips in case an installation goes wrong, and describe essential post-upgrade tweaks. It will also explain how to migrate to a new Mac running Mountain Lion, install Lion Server, and use Recovery mode.