Does It Compute?

Office 2013 is out

So Office 2013 is out.  Microsoft is aggressively promoting Office 2013 as a home user product – businesses will get slammed on pricing.

But for a home user that is willing to entrust all their files to the cloud (and to the stability and speed of their internet connection), Office 2013 is available on a subscription basis for $99 per year for up to 5 home licenses. But to repeat: that depends on your internet connection. If you do any serious work (Microsoft even advertises videoconferencing) WiFi just won’t cut it. Further, if you ever stop subscribing, all your files turn to dust... er, read only copies.

That’s the good news.  For a business, however, the news is different. The “official” price for 2013 Home and Business (the version most businesses will probably buy), there appears to be only a $20 increase, from $199.99 to $219.99. However, 2013 Office is for one computer only, whereas 2010 Office could be installed on 3 computers. So for a business that needs to have software installed on users’ office and home computers, it will cost them up to $659.97 for the same number of licenses.  Let’s see, $659.97 vs. $199.99 – how much of a price increase is that? 

And there’s more.  The 2013 Office is permanently tied to the computer it was first installed on.  If you get a new computer, you cannot transfer the license, you have to buy a new copy.  So if you upgrade your computers, that’s another $220 or more. How much is the cost of Office 2013 up to now?

And there’s more.  Microsoft has eliminated upgrade pricing.  For a limited time (until the end of April), if you can find a copy of Office 2010 and buy it you can get a free upgrade to 2013.  Other than that, upgrade pricing is gone.

But what about features?

As usual, for all things Microsoft I rely heavily on Woody Leonhard. His review of Office 2013 concludes that: “We’ve been using Office 2013 for a long time now and while it has some nice additions there’s nothing really compelling that would justify the cost of upgrading...We’ve read some Office 2013 comments talking about the ‘big improvement’ in Office 2013. But frankly we can’t see it and nor can we see it after reading those glowing reports.” (Click here for the full review).

As for features – what if you don’t want to trust your data to the reliability your internet connection and the cloud?  A useful summary in Infoworld provides some help to people who want to fix what the review terms “enraging flaws” in Office 2013, including how to disable the SkyDrive default.

Lastly, look closely at the features you need (footnotes, indexes, etc.). Some or all of these may not be available in the Cloud. Ditto if you use anything but generic Microsoft fonts. Check carefully before you take the leap.

Don't Use Time Matters 12!

The following important notice has been posted on the Time Matters Support Site.  Don't implement TM 12.

While bugs are par for the course, new bugs in previously stable functions that haven't changed are pretty unusual. This would tend to confirm what I have been saying for a while:  LexisNexis has lost control of the Time Matters code. 

Further, for such a serious bug you would think that they would put out a hot fix, rather than waiting for some indeterminate time for a service pack. But maybe LexisNexis doesn't really care that much of attorneys miss court dates....

2013 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide

This is the sixth yearly edition for the Solo and Small Firm Technology Guide by Sharon Nelson, John Simek and Michael Maschke, with the usual contribution on the Paper LESS Office by Ross Kodner.

As the authors note, since the book comes out at the beginning of every year many chapters remain current, other items are only a few months behind (although it seems longer than that in Internet time).

The thing I have always appreciated about this book is that the authors actually have opinions and are not afraid to express them. Of course, it also helps that by and large I agree with them, although with the occasional caveat. In addition, they cover what is necessary for a complete office starting from scratch – hardware, operating systems, peripherals, printers, scanners, monitors, etc. You will not be far wrong if you follow their recommendations.

A friend of mine used to say “every year I know 10% more and fall 15% further behind.” Reviewing software is like that. The book simply cannot provide detailed reviews of software (even though it is more than 100 pages longer than the 2010 edition), so the authors stress the need to get trial versions of anything you are planning to use and “kick the tires” a bit.

My main caveat this year is that given the critical issue of internet access there is no discussion, even minimal, of browsers when most technologists are recommending dumping Internet Explorer in favor of either Firefox or Chrome.  I would also dispute their positive review of Office 2013, which Microsoft has aggressively aimed at the individual, home user market. As Woody Leonhard has repeatedly made clear, there is really no reason for a business to upgrade and it is going to cost businesses a LOT more money than previously.

The book rightly pays a lot of attention to security issues, especially for mobile devices. They quote the rather amazing statistic that 12,000 laptops were stolen in U.S. airports every week in 2011  (with Chicago in the lead). Or the NASA laptop stolen from a car last fall containing confidential details concerning about 10,000 employees and contractors (including some background check information). At the same time, they are realistic (“we know so many lawyers will ignore our advice...”) and offer fall-back options that may at least deter casual hackers or simple thieves who grab your laptop or smartphone. They rightly insist that the main way to protect your data is to encrypt your entire harddrive. If you do any substantial travelling not to do this is like never locking your door.

I am not, however, entirely convinced by their reservations about “third party access” for Cloud applications. This is really no different from many third-party access to the premises of most law firms, from technology consultants to cleaning crews. If you are dealing with one of the main cloud providers such as Rackspace or Amazon, I don’t really think this is much of an issue. The question of the many small consulting firms that have begun hosting data for some of their clients is an entirely different matter. Not only is there more risk of intrusion, but it is probably only a matter of time until one of these fails in a spectacular fashion. It’s the economics: smaller firms don’t have the economy of scale and so they will inevitably cut corners, leading to failure.

The authors again refer to the decline of LexisNexis products, first and foremost Time Matters. They note that they have not done a single new installation in some time. So it is a little strange that among the SaaS offerings they do not mention Houdini, Esq., which is probably the web-based Time Matters replacement of choice.

Lastly, the book contains a chapter on “favorite utilities” which can be useful. Note however some more industrial strength programs may include functionality provided by single-function utilities. Thus for example, the using Worldox document management system would eliminate the need for a separate indexer or viewer.

The book is available from the ABA store. If you are starting an office, or are at a point where you need to make a decision about where to go next, this can be an invaluable primer.
http://apps.americanbar.org/abastore/index.cfm?section=main&fm=Product.AddToCart&pid=5110758

Troubleshooting the Worldox Indexer

One of the most common support calls I get has to do with the Worldox Indexer not functioning. This is almost always a network/hardware related issue and fairly easy to resolve.

The Indexer runs as a program on a PC (actual or virtual). It must always be running and always logged in to the network. It does not, at present, run as a service. If the indexer program loses the connection to the network it stops working and users cannot search for new documents. The following are some of the most common reasons that this happens:

•    The firm has not turned off auto-updates on the Indexer PC. Therefore in the dark of the night Microsoft downloads your updates and reboots the PC. But the PC does not log in, so the indexer can’t run.  Turn off auto-updates on the Indexer. Repeat: Turn off auto-updates on the Indexer. If possible, set the Indexer to reboot and auto-log in so that the Index program starts up automatically.
•    Server maintenance has been scheduled and the server rebooted. This breaks the network connection to the Indexer and it stops working. Rebooting the Indexer should be part of any maintenance routine. Again, set the Indexer to reboot and auto-log in.
•    Some other updates are performed, or the firm has a policy that PCs are shut down at night. The Indexer must be exempted from this sort of policy.

To update indexes at night, the Indexer downloads them to local C: drive for better performance, updates them, and copies them back up to the server. If this process cannot complete for some reason, the Indexer can be left in an “off-line” status and not working.

How do you know whether the indexer has stopped working?  Simple. If anyone can’t find files they know exist when you search, it is almost certain that the indexer has stopped. Typically a user will be able to see their own files that they have created because the pointer to them is stored in the personal *.ini file (this is separate from the index), but not find them when they search. Users should be trained to report the first instance of a search not working. If such reports represent “crying wolf,” users need additional training on best search techniques.

The best practice for a firm is to have a fairly savvy user/paralegal/office manager have RDP access to the Indexer from their PC. Then, as soon as the first person reports “search is not working” they can log into the Indexer and fix the issue.  The following are the steps to be taken (from simple to complex).

•    The indexer screen should already be running. If the PC logs in and the Indexer starts, it is a sign that it was disconnected from the network. You need to talk with your IT person about a permanent fix (see above).
•    The indexer should normally show files recently opened, saved, etc. and should be counting down: Next Pass in 9, 8, 7, etc. seconds.  If it is not, that is a sign that it is “hung.”
        •    At the bottom center of the Indexer screen, click on the “Close Server” button. Then click YES on the screen that says “Exit server mode and return to main screen.” The Indexer may (or may not) entirely restart. If it does, repeat the process.
        •    Check the drive letters you wish to index. Then click on the “Server” menu item and select “Start.” The server will go through some checks (“Recalculating current users”) and should then start scrolling through the items that had previously not been indexed. If there are a lot of them, it is a sign the Indexer has been down for some time.
        •    If the Indexer has some sort of error message, click out of it and restart the Indexer. If there is a message that it is busy, there are two copies of the Indexer trying to run. Exit all instances of the Indexer (you may have to use Task Manager to do this) and restart it.
        •    If this does not fix the problem, the indexes may be “off-line.”  Stop the indexer as above. Then, click on a drive letter and select “Profile” then “Properties.” At the bottom of the screen, in the “Current Status” box, make sure “On-line - ready to find by Profile” is checked. Repeat for “Text” then “Properties.” Repeat for each drive letter.
        •    Start the Indexer Serve again as above (Start | Server).

If none of these things work, you are going to have to call your consultant or tech support.

Heckman's Laws

Over the years, I have formulated what I have come to term “Heckman’s Laws.” Here they are:

1.  Any time you start a sentence about a computer program with "you would think that....," or "why don't they....", you know you are in deep trouble.

2.  Never underestimate the ability of the end user to wreak havoc on even the best designed routine or program.

3.  Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.  Each new version of software requires more and more hardware to run it. But each new version of software is written for the latest, most powerful hardware. You never actually catch up in this leapfrog process.  When was the last time that a new version of software ran faster than the old version?

4.  Then there is a reader’s “law of dysfunctional software configuration:”  It's always something stupid that keeps something important from working.

5.  And finally, the ultimate Murphy's law: Murphy was an optimist.

Should I Become a TimeMatters Consultant?

A young consultant recently wrote me asking whether I thought it was worthwhile getting certified in TimeMatters and working with a TimeMatters oriented consulting firm.

The short answer is: No. For two reasons. First if I were starting out all over again, I would get involved in cloud computing. That’s where the future is. The money may not be as good as with traditional fat clients, but that’s where everybody is going. It is extremely unlikely that we will see another fat client program emerge to challenge LexisNexis, Amicus, Tabs/Practice Master, etc.

The second is that although I have not been involved directly with TimeMatters for several years, in following the listservs and talking with fellow consultants, it seems clear that TM is going nowhere.

New versions continue to sport inexplicable bugs. Bugs are normal in any new version, but you generally expect them in new features. Apparently TM 12 has a bug in the calendaring routine which prevents dates (read: court dates) from scheduling correctly if they fall on a weekend.  “The software ate my appointment” is not generally an acceptable excuse as far as judges are concerned.

I continue to believe that since there are no programmers left at TimeMatters who have any historical knowledge of the code (i.e., older than 2-3 years) and since TimeMatters has outsourced some programming, that they have lost control of the code and could not really fix it even if they were willing to invest the time and money to do so, which there is no evidence that they are willing to do.

Lastly, there are repeated rumors that LexisNexis plans to spin off TimeMatters. At the NY LegalTech show, in the huge LN booths, TimeMatters and PCLaw were reduced to sharing a single terminal. That tells you something.