Category Archives: General IT

General IT

How computing in schools was “dumbed down” and computer education became ICT

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Not specifically a Legal IT post I know, but I’m sure it is of interest to anyone involved in IT. The announcement by the UK Department for Education that it plans to teach “rigorous computer science” to all children.

This to me is fantastic news and about time. I totally agree that ICT in schools has gone down the path that this article indicates:

“…attempts to teach programming and the deeper ideas of computer science were dropped and in their place children were exposed to word processors and spreadsheets – mostly Word, Excel and, of course, all running on Windows.”

The rest of the same article rings true too, especially that there was a big interest in programming around the time of the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro etc (anyone remember INPUT magazine?), but the army of home grown programmers then tailed off. The arrival of the iPhone/iPad and the “App” has garnered some interest again and hopefully we can inspire a new generation of UK kids to code.

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My only worry with this initiative is that the BCS (British Computer Society) are involved. I worry they have the governments ear, yet do not really represent modern day IT and deliver a more academic view of IT. What we need is to encourage the IT industry to help and really get involved with local schools and teachers to enable them to give kids a real world understanding of modern IT programming.

So like I said this isn’t necessarily Legal IT related, but a call to Legal IT developers to get involved!

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General IT

“In praise of rude nerds”

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The Spectator Magazine – 9th March 2013 – “In praise of rude nerds” by Mark Mason

Around this time last year I wrote a post extolling the benefits of a good first contact with Legal IT when providing good customer service. One of the points I mentioned was “be polite”, however I read an article this week (again in The Spectator) that suggests the “rude nerds” are where the good service is. Or as they put it “rude is the new polite”.

Have a read at the article, it stereotypes a little but effectively it’s about those that man technical helplines that “have the social skills of a breeze-block — but by Christ can they tell you how to defrag a hard-drive”. I suspect it’s intended to be a little tongue in cheek, but the sentiments are right. We’ve all been on calls where at some point you know whether a) the operator is reading a script and doesn’t understand your problem or b) you’re going to get a resolution.

At least with the Sheldon’s* of this world you know where you stand and ultimately your problem is fixed! So maybe the last line is right.

“This man hadn’t been rude, he’d just been true to his nature. A nature that, yes, shuns small talk, but also — and more importantly — lets him do his job brilliantly.

Give me that over futile, scripted politeness any day.”

 

* Sheldon Cooper – a character from the TV show “The Big Bang Theory“, someone who exhibits a strict adherence to routine and a total lack of social skills.

 

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General IT, General Legal IT

BBX (BlackBerry 10) – spoke too soon?

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Well it was only a few days ago that I re-iterated my prediction that BBX would be a flop and that the BlackBerry would fade away in Legal IT. For me a big part of this were the rumours that the first devices would be touchscreen, to me this removed the whole raison d’être for a BlackBerry, the hard keyboard. I mean if you want a touchscreen smartphone then why oh why would you go BlackBerry? (Think Playbook, everyone asked the same question re: tablets and went and bought iPads!)

But then this got leaked on N4BB.

If RIM release this as the first BBX device at the end of January then I have to say that the BlackBerry may still have a place in law firms. Having a good keyboard device would be a great reason to stick with the OS, a lot of lawyers use the BB as their primary email device and love the physical keyboard.

I still think it would be a pair of NHS spectacles (see my Top 5 for 2013 for the explanation!), albeit now they’d be a rather good pair and ones that a fair few people would actual be more than happy to wear!

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General IT, General Legal IT

Hangul (word processor)

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This is a bit of a departure from my usual posts, but please read on! It’s more a cry for help or advice in the Legal IT world (in fact anywhere in the IT world).

In South Korea there is a proprietary word processing (WP) application called Hangul which is published by the company Hancom Inc. This WP application produces documents in its own file format (with a .hwp extension). The latest versions of Hangul can save documents in .doc format, but Microsoft Office cannot open .hwp files.

Now for international firms this becomes tricky as .hwp has widespread use in South Korea (particularly in the government), meaning difficulties when sharing, filing, collaborating on documents with the rest of the world which is wedded to Microsoft’s file formats!

So I’m asking if people can share this post as widely as possible. Email colleagues, put it on linked in, tweet it out, facebook it etc. Someone out there must be working in this dual world and have some tips and tricks they can share. So if you’re one of those people please use the contact form on this site to get in touch, contact me via twitter @planty or simply respond in the comments of this post.

Many Thanks

 

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General IT

Windows 8 first thoughts

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I’ve been using Windows 8 for sometime now and I thought I’d put up a post touching on my initial love hate relationship with the new OS and why I can now see this OS for what it is and where I think it could fit into law firms.

I found in the end that the easiest way to understand Windows 8 is to understand the whole “Desktop” vs “App” thing, once you understand this it makes the perfect sense when to stay Windows 7, when to go Windows 8 and also the whole RT version vs the non RT versions on tablets becomes clear!

Lets start with the “desktop” world, easiest way to think of this is that every piece of software you currently have that runs in Windows 7 is the desktop world, it was all designed for the desktop. So Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop etc are all desktop software. Now Microsoft support this world in Windows 8, however the desktop is tucked away below the new tile start screen. You can pin a shortcut tile to this screen for Word, but launch it and it opens in that desktop space. So your desktop as you know it from the windows 7 world is effectively a layer below.

This is where my initial hate came from as I immediately tried to use “desktop” software. This does diminish over time as you get used to it, but read on. If you switch to the “App” world though the OS really does become a much more usable and enjoyable experience.
So Microsoft have created a new development platform in Windows 8, this is where the “Apps” come in. Adobe may create the next version of Photoshop as an “App”, you launch it the same way from a tile but this time it doesn’t switch into the desktop environment to run. It just runs the “App” basically like your iPad or iPhone does.

The “desktop” world still requires you to install the software in the same way, the “App” world though transitions the software into an AppStore. For now most of the Legal IT world has a bunch of desktop software and until such time that vendors start to build “App” versions of this software there is an argument to say stick with Windows 7. But this is the shift, it is effectively two separate environments and obviously your old software runs in the old “desktop” world. Over time though this will shift as more and more “Apps” become available.

So what about tablet versions. Well they’re easy to understand once you’ve understood the split. The RT release (which the surface runs) will just run the “Apps”, it won’t run the “Desktop” software. To run those you will need a tablet running the non RT version (this is what all laptops and desktop PCs will use). The version of office on the surface is an “App” version not the “Desktop” version, so Microsoft are pushing their own software down the “App” route. Why the split? Well the RT kit has different hardware “underneath the bonnet” and needs much less power, hence longer battery life (think iPad rather than laptop battery life).

Over time more suppliers will build “App” versions I’m sure and the need to run this desktop area will diminish. Microsoft have just been sensible in helping to manage the transition to the App world. For developers the great thing is the Windows 8 and the Windows Phone 8 platforms for “Apps” is closely tied meaning it will be fairly straightforward to make your App ready for the phone version once you’ve developed it for the desktop/tablet version.

Finally a slight aside for those thinking that the desktop environment will stay king and windows 8 will fail. This install of Windows 8 was installed on an old laptop, this first thing my 6 year old did when sat in front of it was to touch the tiles on the screen to try and start an app! We may be tethered to the mouse, but intuitively it’s not the right interface for the next generation.

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General IT

The Eagle has Landed – Microsoft launch “Apollo” aka Windows phone 8

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I know this is another “mobile phone” blog post from me, but I make no apologies. I think mobile and BYOD (bring your own device) is one of the biggest changes that will happen in Legal IT in the next few years.

I also think this weeks announcement from Microsoft will be the start of a turning point for Legal IT mobile technology. The slow shift from BlackBerry to other platforms will start to gather pace with Windows Phone 8. There are a few features that have been announced in Windows Phone 8 that allow this platform to be considered as a real corporate alternative to the BlackBerry.

The first couple are already available on other platforms but they fill a hole that Windows Phone 7.5 had, which are on-device encryption and over the air updates. The former is critical to safeguard data in law firms. I’ve not seen the exact specs for this, but one can hope that the enterprise can manage this along side encryption provided in Windows 7 and 8 on the desktop (ie effectively will be the same Bitlocker technology). Over the air updates are a must for a large law firm, can you imagine the need to tether 1000+ devices to Zune to update??

A new feature which differentiates Windows Phone 8 is the OS integration with VoIP technology. By default Microsofts Skype will be integrated (although later reports indicate this may be allowed to be removed by carriers wanting to protect their phone call revenue!), but it is available for developers so you can pretty safety assume that Lync will get fully integrated! By integrating at the OS it’ll link with contacts and phone as if it was the native interface and will work with all Bluetooth attached devices etc.

Also the kernel of Windows Phone 8 is shared with Windows 8. Now it may be a while before law firms switch to desktop 8 but Legal IT firms that move their platforms to be Windows 8 compliant should find it much easier to leverage those apps in WP8 too. There will also be the ability to set up corporate app stores to manage the delivery of apps internally.

For consumers the Microsoft Phone Wallet sounds interesting, combining NFC technology (near field communication) and an account manager for credit cards, frequent flyer cards etc. Not sure of the benefits directly for Legal IT, but for a travelling lawyer maybe. Again these are available in the latest Android devices and rumoured to be in the next generation of Apple devices.

There is a “split” in the OS as you’re trusty “old” Lumia 800/900 look like they won’t get an 8 update, but MS will introduce a 7.8 release for older devices. There are few details yet, but it sounds like the kind of split iOS does with newer devices, ie you’ll get all the features that the old hardware can manage (ie you won’t get the higher res features as the older phones don’t have the display etc).

Whether we like it or not, in law firms Microsoft technology is king. And this won’t change anytime soon, much to the annoyance of those who still persist with the Microsoft is buggy/poor mantra. So if i was a betting man i would say the natural successor to RIM devices will be Windows Phone 8, but this will bring Android and iOS into the law firm more and more as the management of devices will be less linked to one device.

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General IT

Two simple steps for RIM to get back in the game

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This month has seen the release of Blackberry 10, at least to the developer community. If that’s what RIM intend to release later in 2012 then I’m afraid we may be all bidding adieu to the familiar sight of Blackberry in Legal and beyond.There is no way that a touch screen OS from Blackberry will break the Android and iOS dominance, nor keep Windows Phone from being the #1 challenger to the top 2! These other three are slowly chipping away at the “risks” that ActiveSync technology supposedly brings compared to the BES infrastructure and a copycat OS isn’t going to save RIM.

The Blackberry wasn’t a successful business device because of a touchscreen, a big colour display, a large app store, browsing ability etc. No, the Blackberry was a success because it did two things very well. One, allowed me to make phonecalls and two, allowed me simple and quick access to my email. If RIM had stuck to what it did very well rather than chase the success of Apple then it could still be a player in the corporate world.

My business plan for RIM would have been:

One : The new Blackberry should have gone back to basics. Simple old style Blackberry handset with the keyboard that made composing and replying to emails so easy. Then replace the full colour display with a a Kindlesque e-ink display. This would allow the device to have a battery life that blitzed everything on the market (ever seen how long a WiFi Kindle can last!!). A lot of lawyers would love the basic functional aspect and being able to leave weeks without charging! It would be the perfect successor to the Nokia 6210 for a lot of lawyers.

An e-ink BlackBerry
An e-ink BlackBerry

Two: Focus BES on a management console for ALL smartphone devices. Embrace the security and risk fears of the personal device brigade and control it. There will always be those that want to use their iPhone or Windows Phone, they’ll never switch to a BlackBerry but from a corporate point of view you allow it and control it using the BES software. That way you’re in place to be the device provider for all those that want a functional device with outstanding battery life!

Two simple steps to get back in the game. Yes, for the smartphone loving crowd they’d never go basic e-ink device. But then they’d never swap their iOS, Android, WP7 handset for a Blackberry 10 handset either! Go colour touch screen RIM and we’ll be talking three players in the market in 2013.

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General IT

Good, is it any good? Corporate email, personal devices

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This last week Good for enterprise was released onto the Windows Phone 7 platform. As I’ve a Windows Phone device and we’ve had Good in place for email in our firm for a while (for those on iOS and Android at least), I decided to download the app and take it for a test drive.

So what were my thoughts?

First off for those unfamiliar with Good, it “is a suite of powerful mobile device management tools that bring military-grade security, end-to-end data loss prevention”. Basically for me as an end user, this means the firm can deliver my work email to my own personal device, knowing that its fully encrypted at all times and can be remotely removed if required. So from a control point of view, firms IT and risk depts don’t lose control of the data even though it’s not on a firms device.

And from an end user point of view, I do get access to all my work emails, contacts and calendar on my own personal device.

But…..

The downside for me was that I’d already experienced Exchange email being linked natively to a Windows Phone via Acticesync. And the experience of that from an end user point of view was SO much better. I have my phone setup with 3 personal email accounts already (don’t ask!!) and Windows Phone like most smartphones combines these into one set of contacts, one calendar and (if I want) one inbox. So using Activesync my work email just blended into this environment (I ended up keeping a separate inbox for email, but the joined calendar and contacts was perfect). All my world in one joined up interface. The Good experience wasn’t, well, as good!

At the end of the week I had an excellent twitter discussion with Simon Dandy, Jeffrey Brandt, Charles Christian and Ryan Alban about BYOD (bring your own device) and the balance between security and usability. We concluded “So it’s simple. All we need is a native interface, feature rich, data bifurcating Good on steroids :)”. Basically what you’d want is a separate store of data that’s encrypted (what Good does well) but delivered through the devices integrated native interface.

As I can’t utilise the Activesync option at work I’ve stuck with the Good app. And to be fair it does work well. I takes a while to get everything set up (on start up it has to synchronise the encrypted store with my inbox at work, which can take a while if I haven’t launched Good for some time), but once things are up and running it works as you’d expect any email/calendar app to work. But I can’t help feeling that the need to go into a separate app to look at my emails seems a bit clunky (I mean in Windows Phone I don’t even have to do that for Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, all this is integrated into the UI!). Overall it just isn’t quite as usable as having the emails pushed straight into the devices native email interface!

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General IT

And the gold medal goes to Windows Phone

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The following was one of my 2012 predictions.

Windows Phone/Android/iPhone : Or more to the point, the death of the blackberry in Legal. After years of being the corporate tool of choice (remember when having a BB was a bit of a status symbol!!), RIM through major failure of service and also taking their eye off what they were really good at (email access) have gone the way of the fax machine. As for the replacement? Well the last two on the list are obvious, but I’m sticking my neck on the line and predicting the order as written! I’ll post up why I think this in an future post.

So Windows Phone as lead candidate to replace BlackBerry as the corporate smartphone of choice, am I mad?

Well no, I honestly think the new OS from Microsoft will make significant roads this year and shock the other two a little. Below are some of the reasons I think that it will position itself to be the enterprise device of choice:

  • Nokia – yes they may have fallen behind a little in recent years, but people still talk about them and they know how to build a phone. Regardless of the OS the new Lumia 800 is a extremely well built piece of kit! Plus they can market phones in a way that is second only to Apple.
  • Skype – sure this is available as an app for Android and the iPhone, but over the next year I expect to see closer integration with Windows Phone and more importantly closer integration with Lync. This will start to glue corporate telephony into Windows Phone and as Lync becomes the internal telephony platform of choice, Windows Phone becomes the natural choice for a law firms Unified Communications plan.
  • The enterprise marketplace – rumoured to be coming in the Apollo release of Windows Phone (due later in 2012) is the ability to create a private, secure private app marketplace. Allowing controlled distribution of applications to corporate devices or access to corporate applications to specific personal devices.
  • An obvious one, it’s Microsoft! And so is your corporate email (Exchange), your corporate intranet (SharePoint), your corporate engine room in legal (Office) and your corporate messaging/telephony (Lync). Do you not think they will all just work together seamlessly? Try using Windows Phone now with OneNote, SkyDrive and OneNote in Office 2010 to see how well this can work.
  • The original xbox case study – when the xbox was first released all the “gaming experts” said it was too late to the party and stood no chance against Sony and Nintendos offerings (PS2 and Gamecube). Ten years later and the xbox is THE games console and dominates the market. Sure Sony and Nintendo are still there with a healthy market share, but the 360 is the market leader. History has a tendency to repeat itself, what I saw in the original xbox I see now in Windows Phone.

And finally a bit of wild speculation?

Overall I don’t think Windows Phone will overtake Android or iPhone in market share in 2012, but I think by the end of the year it will be looking like a definite player in the market. And in the corporate world the knowledge and foothold that Microsoft has will give it prime position to take the crown from RIM.

Blackberry running Windows Phone OS?
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