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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Linux absent from law office desktops

Linux Planet has a good article that delves into why Linux is rarely found in law offices: Linux Rare at Legal Firms, Except for Security; WordPerfect Hasn't Been Enough, by Jacqueline Emigh.

One pertinent point from the article:

At the recent national show in New York City, partners from small to mid-size law firms said that while they're aware of the cost savings that Linux might provide, they'd much rather go with Windows anyway.

The article explains that lack of technical support is the reason most given for shying away from Linux. I'm no Linux guru, having barely dabbled in it myself, but I wonder if anyone has actually weighed the costs involved in supporting Linux verus Windows.

And, there's this:

On the desktop side of the law office, Microsoft Office's earlier nemesis WordPerfect still seems to retain some adherents, albeit only within Microsoft OS environments.
During an all-day seminar sponsored by Corel, one attorney talked up the usefulness of the latest edition of WordPerfect Office for Web-based blogging.
But most WordPerfect users tend to be traditionalists, indicated Thatcher, Proffitt, & Woods' Nuara.
"You might find a couple of receptionists who insist on using WordPerfect for DOS. And the law firm will go, 'Okay,' because [the receptionists] have been using it for so long," Nuara said.

I've said this before, and I'll probably say it again. The law offices I talk to just aren't interested in investing in technology. They see it as just one more expense. As long as the secretary is able to crank out documents, albeit with several generations old word processing software, then everything is just fine and dandy. Anything else is an unnecessary cost.

• Posted by: Marie Carnes at 07:34 PM
• 279 words in this article
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• Filed in: News | Thinking outloud

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