The Mac Lawyer : The Mac Lawyer : Ben Stevens : Using Macs In The Practice Of Law

The following Guest Post was written by one of my readers, Michael Yurkanin, and it reviews several wireless microphones to address their use with MacSpeech Dictate Legal:

There have been many articles written about the latest version of dictation software by MacSpeech, MacSpeech Dictate Legal. To use the software requires a microphone. The majority of the microphones recommended by MacSpeech are wired and plug directly into a USB port. MacSpeech, however, now endorses two wireless microphones which they sell on their website, the Samson AirLine 77 Wireless USB and the Revolabs xTag USB Wireless Microphone.

These microphones eliminate another set of wires crossing your desk and are also convenient if you have to step away for a moment since you do not have to remove a headset. On the negative side, both of these microphones are quite expensive compared to a wired microphone. Aside from the cost consideration, the two microphones are significantly different from each other. This review will provide you with information to consider before purchasing so that you will choose the wireless microphone best suited for you.

(MacSpeech recently added the Plantronics Calisto Headset + Bluetooth USB Adaptor which is not included in this review.  This headset was originally designed by Plantronics for use with the Plantronics Calisto Pro Home Office Phone which is sold online and at office supply stores. I have used the Home Office Phone Bluetooth headset and it works well as a phone. The modified Calisto Headset for dictation will be reviewed in a forthcoming article. One item to note is that the Plantronics Calisto Headset uses Bluetooth technology and will have a much smaller range than the other two units.)

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Everybody loves a good magic show, as long as the magic works.  Last week, Apple introduced its Magic Mouse, which it bills as "the world's first Multi-Touch mouse."  With its Bluetooth connectivity, it now enables many of the multi-touch gestures that users of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and newer MacBooks have come to love. 

However, some initial reviews have been less than stellar, which raises the question of whether the Magic Mouse is more style than substance.  While CNET raved about its sleek appearance, it was very critical of the Magic Mouse's narrow profile that "sits too low for comfort", "awkward and unnatural" feel when sliding our middle and index fingers across the flat surface, and inability to reassign the gestures to suit your personal preferences. 

The image below shows the many multi-touch gestures the Mighty Mouse offers.  I haven't had an opportunity to try one out myself, but I welcome your comments of your experiences.

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As I previously mentioned, Apple released its newest operating system, Snow Leopard, last Friday.  The New York Times published its review, which included the following quotes:

• Apple’s release strategy is highly unorthodox: “Leopard, a k a Mac OS X 10.5, was already a great OS-virus-free, nag-free and not copy-protected. So instead of adding features for their own sake, let’s just make what we’ve got smaller, faster and more refined.”
• Snow Leopard truly is an optimized version of Leopard. It starts up faster (72 seconds on a MacBook Air, versus 100 seconds in Leopard). It opens programs faster (Web browser, 3 seconds; calendar, 5 seconds; iTunes, 7 seconds), and the second time you open the same program, the time is halved.
• “Optimized” doesn’t just mean faster; it also means smaller. Incredibly, Snow Leopard is only half the size of its predecessor; following the speedy installation (15 minutes), you wind up with 7 gigabytes more free space on your hard drive. That, ladies and gents, is a first. 

You can read the whole review by clicking here.

Source:  "State of the Art: Apple's Sleek Upgrade" by David Pogue, published in The New York Times.

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If you need to create a time lapse video, you should check out the video below from Macworld.com, which details two methods for doing so. You can create a very basic time lapse moving using Gawker, a free program, or you can use Evocam ($30) and QuickTime Pro ($30) if you need or want more options.

Source:  "Make a Time-Lapse Video" by Rob Griffiths, published at Macworld.com.

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One of the questions that I get asked from time to time is "What's the Mac equivalent of Casemap?"  While there is not a program that exactly corresponds on the Mac side, one of the most viable options is MacJournal.  There is a good review of MacJournal at the MacLitigator blog which analyzes its pros and cons and explains why he prefers it over Journler.  You can check it out here.

Source: "MacJournal and Replacing Journler" by Peter Summerill, published at his MacLitigator blog.

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My friend, Jeff Richardson of the iPhone J.D. blog, recently published a comprehensive review of everything that a lawyer needs to know about the new iPhone 3G-S.  His review answers the following areas:

• How much will it cost?
• What are the new features?
• Speed
• Better camera
• Video camera
• Voice Control
• Increased storage
• Recommendation

If you are considering making the move to the iPhone 3G-S, this article tells you basically everything that you could ever need or want to know.  Thanks to Jeff for providing such a great resource.

Source:  "Review: iPhone 3GS" by Jeff Richardson, published at his iPhone J.D. blog.

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A few weeks ago, I reposted a review of MacSpeech Dictate by Finis Price.  David Sparks, has also reviewed this software, and I have reposted his review below.  While I do not use speech recognition software myself, I realize that many attorneys do.  I highly respect the opinions of my two good friends, and I hope that you have found their reviews helpful.  Here's what David thinks about MacSpeech Dictate:

It wasn’t too long ago that I reviewed MacSpeech Dictate version 1. At the time I concluded it was the best dictation application on the Mac but is still wanting against the DragonDictate on the PC.

Because MacSpeech Dictate uses the Dragon speech recognition engine, I’ve always felt it is only a question of time before MacSpeech catches up with the feature list on the more mature PC application. Recently, MacSpeech Dictate came out with version 1.5 that takes several important steps on that path.

Since the original release of MacSpeech Dictate, the Dragon engine has been updated to version 10 on the PC. MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 brings that Dragon version 10 engine over to the Mac. It is both faster and more accurate than the Dragon 9 engine in the prior version. The developer states the accuracy improved “up to 20%.” Even using the prior version, my accuracy was very good. Having used speech recognition software (off and on) for over 10 years, I simply cannot understate the accuracy of the Dragon engine if you spend a little time and are careful with your dictdion. Frankly, my biggest accuracy problems are not the software but my occasional sloppy dictation habits. While difficult to quantify, the improved accuracy and speed with the new version is noticeable. Indeed, the engine upgrade is, in my opinion, the most important reason to move to version 1.5.

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Several weeks ago, I posted an article which described how to create custom iPhone ringtones for free.  Yes, that method works, but there is a better way – a much better way.  RingtoneStudio for iPhone from PocketMac allows you to create your own ringtones in seconds.  Now, I mean that literally – as in you can create your own rington faster than you can read this sentence!  No joking.

You simply (1) select the media file (from iTunes or anywhere on your Mac), (2) drag it into RingtoneStudio, (3) use the slider to select the portion you want on your ringtone, and (4) click create.  RingtoneStudio then creates the ringtone and automatically places it in the "Ringtones" section of your iTunes Library.

This program sells for $29.95, and it comes with a 90 day money back guarantee.  In the time it took you to read this post, you could have created several ringtones without breaking a sweat.  I use this program myself, and I absolutely love it.  You can learn more or purchase your own copy by clicking HERE.

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Macworld published an article today reviewing some of the top Twitter apps for the iPhone.  I have listed each of the reviewed ones below.  If you're a Twitterer or want to be, check these out:

• Tweetie 1.3.2 from atebits (4.5 mice, $3)
• Twitterrific 2.0.2 from The Iconfactory (4.0 mice, Free)
• Twitterrific Premium 2.0.2 from The Iconfactory (4.0 mice, $4)
• Twittelator Pro 3.0 from Big Stone Phone (3.0 mice, $5)
• TwitterFon Pro 1.5.2 from naan studio (3.0 mice, $5)
• SimplyTweet 1.7 from MotionObj (2.5 mice, $4)
• SimplyTweet Lite 1.2 from MotionObj (2.5 mice, Free)
• TwitterFon 1.5.3 from naan studio (2.0 mice, Free)

Source:  "Twitter Clients for the iPhone" by Lex Friedman, published at Macworld.com.

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I picked up my new iPhone 3G-S yesterday, and I love it.  Of course, I really like its faster speed and its improved camera and video recording capabilities.  I have also been playing around with the Voice Control feature, and it seems to work pretty well thus far.

Ernie The Attorney published his thoughts on the iPhone 3G-S yesterday, and he paid particular attention to the Voice Control functions, which he calls "the killer upgrade feature."  Some of the things you can do with this new feature are:

• "Call [name of person]"
• "Dial [phone number that you say, slowly]
• "Play music"
• "Play songs by [name of artist, spoken clearly and carefully]
• "What is this song?"

Ernie also praises the Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic.  If you already have the 3G-S or are considering getting one, you should read his article, as I agree with his thoughts on the Voice Control functionality.

Source: "The New iPhone 3G|s| - Voice Commands Rock!" by Ernest Svenson, published at Ernie The Attorney.

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I'm pleased to repost the following "MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 Review for Lawyers" by my friend, Finis Price, from his superb TechnoEsq blog:

As most of you know, TechnoEsq posted a review by Victor Medina of the early version of MacSpeech back in March 2008. That review has now become the most read post on TechnoEsq, probably due to the overwhelming demand by attorneys and law firms for dictation software. Earlier this year, MacSpeech released the latest version of MacSpeech Dictate version 1.0. As most of you know, MacSpeech’s Dictate program is powered by the same dictation engine as the windows application Dragon NaturallySpeaking produced by Nuance.

Unfortunately, MacSpeech Dictate uses the Dragon NaturallySpeaking dictation engine number 9.0 instead of the latest 10.0 Dragon NaturallySpeaking users are raving about. As a result of this, it can be said that MacSpeech Dictate in some respects lags behind the Windows version of the dictation software. However within the past month and a half, MacSpeech has released version 1.5 which is a major update to Dictate. This update, costing upgrade users $55 and $199 for new users, is perhaps the greatest update in an application without moving to the 2.0 version of software ever seen. As a result of this, I highly recommend paying for this nominal upgrade fee.

What makes this new upgrade worth $55 is the update of MacSpeech Dictate’s speech recognition engine to the 10.0 engine. This engine is the same one utilized by our Windows brethren running Dragon NaturallySpeaking. As a result of this upgrade, MacSpeech claims an improved speech recognition of 20%, however I feel this is probably an understatement as I have seen an almost 50% increase in speech recognition. As well as improved accuracy, many of the insufferable bugs which were previously present in version 1.0 of Dictate have completely disappeared. These include random letters being generated at the end of sentences, problems in going back through dictation for editing as well as an improved speed difference which is very welcome.

As a practicing attorney, I do utilize a legal transcriptionist for dictation. When using Dictate 1.0 I was growing increasingly irritated with the bugs mentioned above and found myself going back to my transcriptionist because it was just too hard to deal with these issues. However after the upgrade to dictate 1.5 I have gone back dictating to my transcription less and less. This is directly correlated to the improvements with the new speech recognition engine and the bug fixes.

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Do you need (or want) to find out what is being typed on a particular computer?  No, I'm not encouraging you to become a stalker, as there are some legitimate reasons to collect this information.  For instance, do you suspect that your employees are goofing off at work or stealing company secrets?  Maybe you want to know what are your minor children really doing on the internet?  Of course, you might also want to know if your spouse is cheating on you (see note below).

eBlaster | Mac 2009 allows you to secretly record all the keystrokes on a computer and surreptitiously send those keystrokes via e-mail to another one.  Once installed, it loads in the background, and it isn't visible in the Applications folder or via Spotlight search.  When activated, it can monitor and provide reports on a wide range of computer activity, including instant messages sent, Web sites visited, e-mails sent, keystrokes typed, online searches made, and applications used.  You can read a full review of eBlaster | Mac here.

Note:  Before using any program of this type, you should first determine whether obtaining such information if legal under state and federal law.  This article does not provide any opinion on the legality of same, and it should not be construed as such.  You should also consider that these types of programs are capable of capturing user IDs and passwords typed into banking or other secure sites, and thus make it easy to expose very sensitive information.

Source: "eBlaster 2009: Surreptitious Key-Logging Software Sees and Reports All" by Jeffery Battersby, published at Macworld.

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InfoWorld's executive editor, Galen Gruman, recently spent a month with an iPhone 3G and a BlackBerry 9000 Bold to "compare the two devices in depth: mail to mail, phone to phone, browser to browser, and thumb stroke to touch-tap."

He concluded that "it's time to bury the BlackBerry", saying that it is "way past its prime."  In fact, he called the BlackBerry "a Pinto in an era of Priuses."  Ouch, that had to hurt RIM.  You can read the entire detailed review HERE.

Source:  "Deathmatch: BlackBerry Versus iPhone" by Galen Gruman, published at InfoWorld.

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If you were not able to attend this year's ABA TechShow (or even if you were), you should check out the excellent video interviews conducted by attorney and legal technology expert Finis Price of the TechnoEsq blog. He interviewed some of the most popular vendors to discuss their products, including the following:

• Larry Port from Rocket Matter about their practice management software (view here)
• Derek Flower from Fujitsu about the ScanSnap S1500 (view here)
• Jack Newton from Clio about their practice management software (view here)

Source: Finis Price's TechnoEsq blog.

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The following Guest Post is from one of my readers, Marissa Clake, who is an International Business Management major at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China:

Watching movies is an essential part of my leisure life on weekends. Having tons of DVDs, I had been using DVD Hunter to organize them on my Mac.  Unfortunately, this program required me to insert each DVD disc every time I wanted to watch it.

Fortunately, I discovered a terrific program called DVD-Library for Mac which enables me to backup my commercial DVDs.  It is a beta version, so it is not perfectly stable, but its main functions work quite well and it is free.  

I use it to make ISO file for all my encrypted DVDs, and because it doesn’t remove the protection, I don’t worry about breaking the law.  With only a few clicks, I can watch the backup movies on my Mac conveniently, and the quality of the ISO image is as good as the original DVDs.

This software has enabled me to built a virtual library for my DVDs on my Mac.  Because it records the information about each movie, I can easily find the movie I want to watch. It’s really cool software. You can find out more about it and/or download it for yourself by clicking HERE. 

Below is a quick tutorial for this software, but you can find a more detailed tutorial at the developer’s website.

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EasyTime [ + & - ] by Mark K. Funke

About two months ago I entered PC hell. My four year old XP machine started giving me random memory access error messages that just didn't sound good, most of the attachments coming into my email inbox ended up corrupted, and to top it all off, the server no longer recognized any of the tape drives. That was it. I needed a new system. My office-mate had updgraded all his machines to Vista with the usual horror stories. I instead blew $4,000 at the Apple Store, and I was up and running fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, I had not researched the question of billing software for Macs. With my XP machines dead or dying, I really didn't have much time to think about it. I did about 4 hours of research and concluded that EasyTime from Bright Light Software looked the best for me. I downloaded it, spent perhaps 30 minutes with it, and immediately paid the $99.00 registration fee. I didn't have much of a choice, as billable work was stacking up.

After one month of using EasyTime, I have listed my current thoughts below, mostly in comparison to Billings from Marketcircle, which I also briefly thought about purchasing.

Positives about Easytime:

1. I love the simple interface. It's easy and fast to enter time and a description. One of my complaints with Billings is that it seems cumbersome to quickly add new billed time and new lengthy descriptions in your slips. With Billings there are too many "clicks" required to finalize the slip - not so with Easytime. This was probably my biggest selling point. I have a habit of meticulously and quickly tracking my time.
   
2. Similarly, the setup with new cases, and clients and the general layout of the program is easy to use, and IMHO better than Billings. I like the idea of the color coded invoice tracking.
   
3. As a law specific application, the Retainer billing function makes more sense than Billings.
   
4. The developer is extremely responsive and helpful in fixing any problems you may have. That's just absolutely awesome!
   
5. I like the report function and the simplicity of many of the reports; similarly I like the way it saves PDFs of your past invoices in the support directory.

Negatives about Easytime:

1. Starting with the website where you download the program and all the way through the general interface of the program - it's not as, shall we say "refined" as Billings or as pretty. Mac users like pretty; I want pretty.
2. Some of the program functions, such as postage tracking, organizing files for individual clients, etc. appear useless to me. They aren't well-refined enough to use. For example, I doubt anyone uses the "schedule phone call" function. I believe that it's way easier just to use iCal. I suppose those functions are slightly beta, and I am waiting for a more comprehensive approach in version 2.0.
3. The the simple and the standard invoice form is just fine, but the customization is somewhat lacking. It would be nice to have 5-10 sample invoice forms that come with the program. In general, I like the concept of "pretty invoices" as Billings has, but the Billings invoices are a little too childlike for me. I would like better designed invoices, but with a professional look. Perhaps it would make sense for the developer to hire a graphic designer to design a few invoices.
4. The user manual is not complete. The program is very intuitive, which is good. It's easy to use, but the user manual could be more specific. There are several buttons and functions that I have no idea what they do or where to even look up that info.

If you are a current or past EasyTime user I would love to hear your thoughts on the software. I can be reached at mark@funkelaw.com.

Mark K. Funke is an attorney in Seattle, Washington, whose practice emphasizes commercial real estate transactions.

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Legal technology expert Finis Price recently reviewed the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen on his TechnoEsq blog.  If you are not familiar with the Smartpen, it simultaneously records your written notes and audio in its memory, which allows you to export your notes to a searchable *.pdf file and even listen to the audio that corresponds with your notes.

Because this technology is somewhat hard to describe, and Finis' review includes video demonstrating how this amazing piece of technology works.  I highly recommend that you check out his review to determine if the Smartpen can help in your practice.  If you are interested in learning more about the Smartpen, you may also want to review the prior posts published on my blog from Ware Cornell, David Sparks, and Adam Greivell.

Source:  "Synchronized Audio and Notes with LiveScribe" by Finis Price, published at hisTechnoEsq blog.

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My friend and noted legal technologist, David Bilinsky, recently posted a review of a task management program called Things Mac.  He prefers this program to Entourage for "looking after To-Do’s, errands, repeating appointments and matters that need to be done."  If you're looking for an excellent task management program, you should check out David's review here.

Source:  "A Good Thing…" by David J. Bilinsky, published at his Thoughtful Legal Management blog.

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The following Guest Post is from Dale Strauss, and it is written in response to my recent post about the iPhone vs. Blackberry debate.  Let it never be said that I'm not willing to air both sides of a debate, even if one of them is not pro-Apple (LOL).  I hope that you find it helpful and informative, and I'd like to thank Dale for allowing me to publish his great article:

Reading Ben’s references to the great articles by Jeff Richardson and Lee Rosen gave rise to one of my long-winded comments, which Ben graciously suggested we turn it into this Guest Post. I would like to make a plug for a different alternative to the iPhone, the Blackberry Bold. No doubt the Storm is RIM's direct analog for the iPhone, however I believe the Bold is a more compelling alternative, particularly for lawyers.

I've tried the iPhone 3g twice (and my son has my original iPhone) so I believe I've given it a fair shake. It is undoubtedly one of the best electronic gadgets ever invented. It has no equal as a media device, whether music, videos, gaming, or even the internet. I hesitated a bit on that last one, because Safari on the iPhone is the best internet experience on a phone size device, but it is still too small. No matter how good the interface and translation of a full page may be, it is still an annoying WINDOW on the real thing. Even netbooks at 8" stretch the true usability of the internet. No device with a 3" +/- window on the internet world delivers the goods.

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Most attorneys are closely tied to their cell phones of choice, and everyone has his own opinion of which type of phone is the "best."  Two lawyers that I know (and highly respect), Jeff Richardson and Lee Rosen, recently weighed in with articles published in the January 2009 Law Practice Today webzine with their thoughts of how the iPhone compares with the Blackberry.  You can read their articles at the links below, and I invite your comments with your own thoughts as to which phone is superior.

• "iPhone vs. Blackberry: iPhone" by Jeff Richardson
• "iPhone vs. Blackberry Storm: Blackberry" by Lee Rosen

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The Legal Mac section of the January 2009 Law Practice Today features the article "Outlining Options for Macs" by Stephen D. Chakwin, Jr.:

PCs no longer hold the lion's share of outlining and information-organizing tools. In this article by Stephen Chakwin, learn about the large variety of tools available for Mac users.

The Mac world is rich in dedicated outliners and other information-organizing applications. (In Mac lingo, the word application is used where PC users use the word program. There’s probably some esoteric explanation for the different usage, but I don’t know it.) There’s a detailed and interesting survey of them in a series of columns by Ted Goranson that you can find here. Ted lists capabilities, does comparisons between similar products, and explains some of the design philosophy underlying these differences. You will come away from these articles with new appreciation for things you can do with your computer. You will also want to get and learn all the applications that he writes about.

The first type of outliner I will discuss is what most people think of when they hear the term: a dedicated application that works in standard headline / subhead / subsubhead / note fashion. Most word processors have some similar function built into them, but a dedicated outliner is able to reorganize entries and move information around in a way that makes the outlining function of word processors seem clumsy.

There are two main uses I’ve found in my practice for this type of outliner.  What I call a “catching” outline is a way of capturing and organizing incoming information. Since outliners are so flexible, I am not committed to a particular hierarchy or structure of the information. (One of the subtle traps in understanding information is the tendency of the structure of how information is presented to us – or stored by us – to influence how we understand its meaning, even if the structure is random.) I can assign a tentative structure (or none at all, just creating a list) and then go back later and see what I really have in the outline.

The other is a “throwing” outline, one that I use to prepare for a situation in which I am going to be presenting or eliciting information: a witness examination, an argument, a lecture. I can create an overall shape for the event by building a sequence of topics (headlines) and then, within each of these, a subsidiary sequence of sub, subsub, or deeper components, anchored to notes if I need them. With this type of outliner, I can display only the headlines (and key them to presentation slides in PowerPoint or Keynote, Mac’s superior presentation application, or to trial or deposition exhibits, or to anything else I choose). I can reorder the headlines easily and rapidly and test different sequences for effectiveness. I can also focus in on any single headline by “hoisting” it so that it is the only thing on my screen. If you prepare your witness examinations in advance (almost always a good idea), this outlining function is a powerful tool.

There are two main dedicated outliners for Mac.  One of them – the most commonly used – is Omni Outliner. The Omni Group makes fine products, and they both work well and look good on the screen. Outliner is a mature product, as it’s up to Version 3.7 as I write this, with Version 4 on the horizon. It is full of features but is easy to learn on a basic level. There are also video tutorials on the Omni web site. The two missing features that are most asked-for – a zoom ability to make up for aging or tired eyes and small screens and cloning (the ability to insert a specific heading in more than one spot in an outline and have it change in all places to track modifications you make any one) are alleged to be on the way in Version 4.

The other main contender in this category is called Tao. Tao has a few features that the Omni product does not – most notably cloning. It also has an extensive set of keyboard commands that I have found idiosyncratic. The appearance of Tao on the screen is spare and functional, and it looks more like a Windows program than a Mac application to some users.

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As my long-time readers may recall, my friend and fellow blogger, David Sparks of the MacSparky blog, attends the Macworld Expo every year, and he has been kind enough to report his findings to my readers.  The following are David's thoughts on the 2009 Macworld Expo: 

In addition to my job at Macsparky (the business card really does say "Chief Slacker"), I have another job that actually pays money as a business attorney. So every year in addition to looking for things new and geeky at Macworld Expo, I also take a look for tools useful in the practice of law. Here is this year's take:

Daylite Touch

Marketcircle's Daylite has become the “go to” applicaiton for running your law practice. This year they had a strong presence at Macworld including numerous demonstrations, presentations from the David Allen company, and previews of their soon to be released iPhone client. It supports full synching with your Daylight database. This is excellent news for Daylite users.

Livescribe Smartpen

Livescribe’s Pulse Smartpen is coming to the Mac. This is, essentially, a computer in a pen. It records all pen strokes and then recreates the pages on your screen. It also records audio while you are taking notes and indexes it to your notes. You must use their paper (printed with the required microdots to give the computer context) but I could use this every day in my practice. This could also be a nice gift for any university students in your life.

FileMaker Pro 10

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Today, I am pleased to present the following Guest Post from Marnï "The MacAngel" Melrose, which she discusses Marketcircle's outstanding productivity suite, Daylite:

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As my readers are aware, I presented two seminars at the ABA TechShow 2008 this past March in Chicago.  One was "How Lawyers Practice Law and Serve Clients with Macs -- Really!" which I co=presented with Jeff Richardson.  Our written materials from that session were recently republished in the September 2008 Law Practice Today webzine, as follows:

While most lawyers are wedded to the PC, these two lawyers enumerate the advantages of the Mac, for work, for home, and for the pure enjoyment of it.

For over a decade, every one of the hundreds of press releases issued by Apple has ended by noting that "Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh." Apple's critical role in the early days of personal computers is beyond debate, but for a period of time in the 1990s, Apple seemed to have lost its way. Its computer lineup was confusing, its market share reached an all time low, the company's stock price fell to $5 a share (in current share prices), and Dell CEO Michael Dell famously quipped that if he owned Apple, "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." 

Since then, the company has had a resurgence. Apple's computers and software have received rave reviews, its market share is at the highest point since the Mac was first introduced in 1984, Apple has taken over the digital music market with the ubiquitous iPod, the company is already a formidable presence in the cell phone market with the iPhone introduced just last year, and at the time of this writing (January of 2008) Apple's stock price has risen to over $200 a share.

With a record number of people now switching from PCs to Macs, the question for lawyers is: should you switch too? And if you do, should you maybe just switch for your home computer, or also for your office as well? Most importantly, what do you gain and what do you lose by making the switch?

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Once upon a time back in the late summer of 2007, there was a Mac-using attorney was preparing to make a big presentation to a statewide legal association.  Everything was going well, until his hard drive spontaneously committed suicide only days before his presentation.  To make matters worse, this lawyer didn't have a recent backup of his hard drive.

After talking with the folks at AppleCare and visiting a Genius at his local Apple Store, this poor soul faced the sad reality that it seemed as though all of his data was lost.  Then, he learned about DriveSavers, and after discussing his situation with them, he decided to give them a try.  The ailing hard drive was shipped to California for diagnosis and testing, and after a few days, some of the once-lost data was recovered and returned to the lawyer.

There are many morals to this story:

1. Backup all of your critical data, and do it regularly.  There are several excellent backup programs, but I prefer SuperDuper! because it is very easy to use and it makes bootable copies of your hard drive.
2. Have a second alternative to your backups, such as OS X's built-in Time Machine.  Trust me, you can never be too safe with your data, and this second method is quick, easy, and invisible.
3. If you are faced with data loss, despite the two recommendations above, utlize a top-notch data recovery service, like DriveSavers.  They are not inexpensive by any means, but how much is your data worth to you?
4. Never admit that you were dumb enough to not have a backup of your data, even if it's blatantly obvious that your blog post was about yourself...

If you are interested in learning more about what goes into a data recovery company, you should read Macworld's interesting profile of DriveSavers, which was published last week.  It closely examines all aspects of the company, from its roots to its newest complex, and it features its use of Macs throughout its history.

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This past Spring, I decided that I wanted to stop carrying so much "stuff" with me every day.  Up to that point, I had been using an STM Alley shoulder bag every day, and I really liked it.  It was just big enough for my MacBook and most of the accessories I needed a daily basis or when traveling.  But when I thought about it, did I really need all of those things on a daily basis?  Video adapters, remote controls, USB drives, etc. were all nice to have, but I rarely used them except when traveling or doing presentations.

After looking at several sleeves, I decided to give the InCase Neoprene Sleeve a try.  Although very basic, it provided excellent protection for my MacBook, and it was very lightweight.  I could also squeeze a legal pad, very thin file, or magazine into the sleeve if necessary.  After a few months, I found myself wishing that it had a little pocket or some way to carry smaller items, but it was certainly more than adequate for its intended purpose.

When I got my MacBook Air in June, I decided to look for a new case. The InCase Sleeve would work fairly well, but it did not hug my new Air snugly enough for my taste since it was designed for the thicker MacBook.  Plus, I was still hoping to find something with that little pocket because I had gotten the Verizon 3G USB Modem, which I want to keep with me at all times.

After looking at all of the bags on the market at that time, I decided to give the Marware Sportfolio Sleeve a try.  This sleeve hugs the Air like a glove, providing excellent protection, and it has an external "Orca-skin" pocket which can snugly hold an iPhone, USB modem, or other similarly sized items.  The list price of this sleeve is less than $35, and I highly recommend it if you are looking for something that provides great protection along with a little bit of storage space.

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One of the programs mentioned on the MILO Podcast published earlier this week is Levelator.  This program adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file to compensate for variations from one speaker to the next.  It is cross-platform (OS X, Windows, or Linux), and it's free from The Conversations Network.  Macworld gave version 1.4.0 of this program 4 mice (out of 5), and my co-hosts swear by it.  You can check it out by clicking HERE.

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Macworld recently published an article on "Mac Gems" in which it mentions the program Narrator (v. 2.0.2) from Dejal.  This program utilizes speech synthesis to read out marked passages using specified voice attributes.  These voices can include not only OS X's built-in voices, but also a variety of others that can be downloaded.

Because the completed audio file can be exported to iTunes, you can listen to it on an iPod or iPhone, no matter where you are.  For attorneys, I believe that this program could be used in several ways, including speaking depositions.  You can quickly and easily assign voices for the attorney(s) and the deponent and listen to your depositions while away from the office.

Narrator earned 3.5 mice (out of 5) from Macworld, and you can learn much more about this product and even download a demo version by clicking HERE.

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For some time, I have had both VMWare Fusion and Parallels Desktop for Mac on my MacBook.  As part of my Mac "diet" to slim down the data on my hard drive, I decided that I would only have one virtualization program on the MacBook Air, so that meant that one had to go.

I have used both programs, and there are things that I like about each of them.  They offer very simliar features and options across the board.  However, I have used Parallels more frequently and for a longer period of time.  Nonetheless, I wanted to give Fusion a fair opportunity before making my final decision.

I used the VMWare Importer Tool to pull a copy of my Parallels "virtual pc" into Fusion so that I could compare apples to apples (no pun intended). It did a pretty good job, after about 40 minutes, of pulling all of the programs, etc. into a Fusion virtual machine.  I installed the "Tools" functionality in Fusion, and I then began my comparison.

Both virtual machines used approximately the same amount of disk space (21 GB).  Both took approximately the same amount of time to start up and allow me to begin using the Windows programs, and the programs themselves seemed to run at a comparable speed on both virtual machines. 

Unfortunately, the VMWare Importer did not bring my print settings into Fusion, which proved to be a huge problem.  In fact, I tried for over an hour to configure the settlngs to be able use our network printer at the office, but in the end I gave up.  To be fair to Fusion, I also tried to print from another Fusion virtual machine I had previously installed, and it wouldn't allow me to print either.

So in the end, I decided to stick with Parallels and not install Fusion on the MacBook Air.  It should not be so difficult to set up printing in Fusion, and that ultimately proved to be the tie-breaker for me.  I invite you to submit comments as to which virtualization option you prefer and why.

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This is the final installment about Macworld's recent series of articles comparing Apple's iWork '08 and Microsoft Office 2008 to determine which is superior.  Here, we will take a look at Keynote '08 and PowerPoint 2008, as reviewed by Franklin Tessler.

Mr. Tessler found that Keynote's workflow and overall feature set remain superior to PowerPoint.  However, he did note that PowerPoint has caught up to Keynote in many areas and surpassed it in some.  Personally, I have used both and I believe that Keynote is one of those programs that makes it worth getting a Mac to be able to use.

Source:  "PowerPoint 2008 vs. Keynote '08" by Franklin N. Tessler, published at Macworld.

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This is the second article about Macworld's series of articles that comparing Apple's iWork '08 programs with their Microsoft Office 2008 programs to determine which is better.  Rob Griffiths conducted this analysis of Numbers '08 versus Excel 2008.

Mr. Griffiths concluded that while Numbers can create a prettier spreadsheet, Excel is simpler to use.  Specifically, he found that Excel offers more formulas, features, and tools to help with actually building the spreadsheet. 

He specifically cited the following concerns about Numbers:  its inability to simply show a formula's variables as you enter it; its lack of keyboard support in selecting ranges when you're entering formulas; its lack of custom number and date formats; and its limited conditional formatting abilities.

Source:  "Excel 2008 vs. Numbers '08" by Rob Griffiths, published at Macworld.

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Macworld recently published a series of articles that compared Apple's iWork '08 products with their Microsoft Office 2008 counterparts to determine which was better. In the word processing segment, it was Jeffrey Battersby's analysis of Pages vs. Word.

Mr. Battersby concluded that unless you are changing the way a text document looks (where Word's document themes offer a distinct advantage), Pages is equal to or better than Word for everything from basic word processing files to sophisticated page layouts.

Source:  "Word 2008 vs. Pages '08" by Jeffrey Battersby, published at Macworld.

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It's becoming somewhat "old news" nowadays.  Objective testing by yet another highly respected magazine has concluded that Macs are better than PCs -- in both desktop and laptop versions. 

This time, it was Popular Mechanics recently ran two comparison tests in its May 2008 edition.  The desktop competition featured the iMac vs. Gateway One, and the notebook version featured the MacBook vs. Asus M51SR.  You can read the full article HERE, but a summary is listed below, in Popular Mechanics' own words:

In both the laptop and desktop showdowns, Apple's computers were the winners. Oddly, the big difference didn't come in our user ratings, where we expected the famously friendly Mac interface to shine. Our respondents liked the look and feel of both operating systems but had a slight preference toward OS X. In our speed trials, however, Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times. We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple's platform-switching Boot Camp software--and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did.

Source:  "Mac vs. PC: The Ultimate Lab Test for New Desktops & Laptops" by Glenn Derene, published in Popular Mechanics.

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Apple recently began shipping its revolutionary Time Capsule within the last week or so.  This product is an automatic wireless backup for your Mac, which combines a 802.11n Wi-Fi base station and a 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive.

Lightening fast networking speed with a huge hard drive that encourages backups -- what's not to like?  I intend to get at least one of these in the coming months, as it enables you to use Time Machine with any connected computers, even notebooks like my MacBook. 

The first round of preliminary (and positive!) reviews of Time Capsule are now online, including:

• "Time Capsule First Impressions" published at Engadget
• "Time Capsule Initial Verdict: Smooth Sailing, No Surprises" published at Gizmodo
• "Time Capsule Ships with Support for USB Drive Backups" published at Tidbits
• "Apple Time Capsule Unboxing and Preview" published at AppleInsider

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New Mac legal blogger Peter Summerill has posted his review of the MacBook Air at his MacLitigator blog.  His pros and cons are listed below, but I urge you to read the whole review to see what one litigator thinks of this new laptop.

Pros :: Light; goes anywhere; super bright and fast screen (almost feels like an instant-on computer); small form fact makes it less obtrusive.

Cons :: Still a laptop; battery life not as advertised; a little bit expensive.

Source:  "MacBook Air - The Litigator's Review" by Peter Summerill, posted at his MacLitigator blog.

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If you have an interest in or need for a timeline program, you should check out MacSparky's review of Timeline v.2.0 from Bee Documents.  His review gives this program an enthusiastic "thumbs up" and he includes step-by-step directions to create your own timeline in a flash, and he also has made the review available by audio on The Mac ReviewCast Episode 139.

If you like what you see, you can download a trial of Timeline from the developer's website by clicking HERE.  The developer's website also has a very nice (and short) video demonstration.  A full license costs $40, but if you use the discount code "MACSPARKY" during checkout, you can get 15% off through the end of January 2008.

Source:  "Review - BeeDocs Timeline" by David Sparks, published at MacSparky.com.

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If you have been considering purchasing an iPhone, you might find the following article from Kevin Hickey interesting.  I too hesitated in purchasing my iPhone, but I now regret not doing it sooner.  Here is Mr. Hickey's article:

Well, I took the plunge. I purchased an iPhone.  I purchased it within days of its release, so along with the plunge I also received the full soaking on the price. Was it worth it? For this particular solo I can answer emphatically "yes."

The best thing about the iPhone is how easy it is to use. Calendar, phone, email, and internet are all available on the main screen with one touch. This is really efficient for the solo that handles his own calendar and makes his own appointments (like me). You can be on the phone with a client, check your calendar, and schedule an appointment - no matter where you are.

Does the client need to send you something to review asap? No problem. iPhone can receive MS Word and PDF email attachments and download them in seconds. Need to hop on the internet? Touch the safari icon and you are there. With a wi-fi connection you will not notice much speed difference from your regular computer. Also, iPhone downloads the regular webpage instead of a modified mobile webpage. So you will see the same internet images that a person on a regular computer will see.

Out of town and need some directions? Touch the map icon and you are immediately connected to detailed maps of any city you need. Type in anything you want (i.e. "steak restaurants", "hotel") and pushpins appear on the map showing you the closest places that match your search. [Ed. Note: This alone sounds worth the price to lawyers like me who keep getting appointments outside their home counties.] Detailed contact information is included next to the pushpin - touch the phone number and you are calling your selection. A hyperlink will be included with the contact information if your selection has a website. Very fast, very easy.

iPhone is also one of the most advanced iPods on the market. You can have all of your songs, podcasts, even movies right at your fingertips. This is great for those drives out of town to court or depositions. Just put the earphones in and you are ready to go. If you receive a phone call while you are listening to music, iPhone will pause the song and notify you of the call. You can take the call or ignore it. Once you are finished with the call, or if you ignore it, your song immediately starts again from the point it was paused. Very intuitive!

Voicemail is also much easier to manage. iPhone has "visual voicemail" which means you have a list of all of your voicemail messages. You can either listen to the message or delete it. This is very handy if you have already talked with the person and the voicemail he/she left you is no longer necessary. Instead of having to listen to the message and delete, you just delete it from the list. If you listen to a message and decide you need to talk to the person, simply push the "Call Back" button and the person is being dialed immediately. This is also available while you are using the text message feature on iPhone (ie. Text conversation getting tedious? You always have the option on the text screen to "Call person"). No more closing the text message window and searching through your contacts for the phone number.

iPhone also contains a calculator on the main screen as well as a notepad. Very handy for recording that great idea for your appellate brief when you are sans pen and paper. Do you have an idea but it needs to wait until later in the day? Push the clock icon and you can set a reminder alarm for later in the day.
I admit that many of these features are available on a lot of the PDAs on the market today. However, the iPhone has taken efficiency and practicality to a whole new level. There is enough stress in our careers without adding to it by fumbling around with our PDAs.

The Impact on Your Life: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

One final thought. You might have the same fear that I did when I considered my purchase. Is this purchase going to make my career a 24-7 endeavor? I hear enough from (insert spouse, significant other, friend here) about how much I work already. This will only make it worse! Not so. iPhone has several settings so that you are not alerted of anything unless you want to be. You can turn on airplane mode to block all calls and you can set it (as I have) to not alert you of incoming emails. Email will then only be received when you want to receive it. I also have mine set to not delete email from my server. That way if I check an email on my iPhone and would rather answer it later at the office, it will still be on my laptop when I get back to the office. I can delete if off the iPhone and then not worry about it until later.

Source:  "A Lawyer Reviews The iPhone" by Kevin L. Hickey, published at his blog and The Inspired Solo.

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An article published in ComputerWorld late last week compared the iPhone with other new competition in the business phone arena.  This article asked "Is the iPhone  as good as its hype?"

An expert, Perceptive Sciences, was asked to examine and compare the iPhone with the HTC Touch and the Nokia N95.  The result was that "when it comes to usability, the iPhone does, indeed, live up to its hype."

The scoring was not even close.  The iPhone's overall score in the usability tests was 4.6 out of 5, whereas the HTC Touch scored only 3.4 and the Nokia N95 scored only 3.2.  You can read the full text of this article by clicking HERE.

Source:  "Usability Tests Show Apple's iPhone Blows Away The Competition" published at MacDailyNews.
 

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I have previously posted about Keynote being vastly superior to PowerPoint.   There is a detailed comparison of these two programs at The Trial Technologist's View blog, which includes insightful analysis and videos highlighting the differences in the following areas:  layout, graphics engine, slide transitions, image transitions, image manipulation, charts/tables, video importing, and exporting. This blog is written by a trial presentation and litigation support company, and it contains excellent, practical, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you owe it to yourself to do so. 

Source:  "Differences Between PowerPoint and Keynote [video]" by Blake Boyd, published at The Trial Technologist's View blog.

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A few weeks ago, Apple unveiled its newly redesigned iMac computers.  AppleInsider published an in-depth review of the new iMac, including several high resolution photos.  If you are considering getting an iMac, if you want to be convinced to get one, or if you're just curious, click HERE to read their review.

Source:  "Review: Apple's New 24-Inch iMac (Aluminum)" by Aidan Malley, published at AppleInsider.

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Last week, I posted  David Sparks' review of Keynote '08.  Today, he posted the following insightful review of Pages '08 at MacSparky.com:

I was not a fan of Pages 06. I'm sure it was perfectly fine for making brochures and flyers, but unfortunately I never had much need for brochures and pamphlets so there it sat on my hard drive, unused and neglected. That being said, I wasn't particularly happy with any other of the word processors on my Mac either. I played a bit with Bean and NeoOffice but when it came down to it, I usually ended up in Microsoft Word. Word reminds me of one of those RV's you see driving down the road. The kind with bicycles tied on the back, a boat bolted to the roof, and spare luggage falling out the window. Like the old RV, Word has every possible feature bolted on and wedged into the various menus. While it has everything you could possibly need (and quite a few you will never need) it drinks system resources and is a real chore to use. Nevertheless, I, like many others, have been using Microsoft Word for more than 15 years and anything else I try will be compared to it.

So Steve Jobs announced the new Pages 08 and explained that now it is a word processor in addition to being a page layout tool. It is in this new word processing mode that I spent most of my time kicking the tires on Pages 08.

All word processors are fundamentally the same. From the days of my 8-bit Atari computer to sitting here with my fancy MacBook Pro, I still am forced to put the words together and get them onto the screen. When it comes to word processing, the devil is in details.

The details in Pages 08 are very nice indeed. There is a contextual format bar that monitors your activity and puts the applicable tools in easy reach. Whether you are typing text, working in a table, or inserting shapes and diagrams, Pages puts the related tools in the top bar.

Pages also incorporates several of the graphical tools added with iWork 08 to this Pages program. This allows for Instant alpha, customizable frames and other graphic tools. They work just as slick as in Keynote. I don't think I'll have a lot of need for these tools in a word processor but it is nice to know they are there.

Change tracking has also been added. This is a very important feature for my work. I often exchange documents with others where change tracking is critical. The implementation of change tracking in Pages is both easy and slick. Even more important, it has worked flawlessly with Microsoft Word. Since most of the people I am working with are using Word, this is critical.

Another new feature is automatic lists. This, of course, has been the bane of existence to all Microsoft Word users for years. Apple's implementation of this feature is a bit more forgiving. It actually adopts your formatting instead of imposing its own. For instance if you type a number 1 and then period and two spaces, it will apply the same with the autoformatting.

The compatibility with Microsoft Word is generally good but not perfect. I put some format heavy contracts into it and made several adjustments while tracking changes. I then exported them to Word format and viewed them in Mac Word 04 and and Windows Office 2003. They looked fine and my windows colleagues were none the wiser. I also tried this with a legal pleading document and the conversion was a mess. Legal pleadings have a very specific format with lines down the left side, line numbering and a variety of other formatting requirements that don't make a lot of sense but hey .. its the world I live in. Anyway, while the Word pleadings imported just fine into Pages, they did not export to Word properly after changes in Pages. The page formatting, font sizes, line numbering, and just about everything else were screwy and unusable without plenty of work. So for me that means I need to do pleading work in Word or just do it as a text file and send it to others for formatting.

Another issue I never quite sorted out was exporting to different versions of Word. Apple beat Microsoft to the punch with compatibility with Office 2007 but I don't run Office 2007 so I can't report on that issue. I tried to figure out if there is a setting to export to Office 2007 or Office 2003. Perhaps if I could sort that out it would solve the problem of exporting pleadings properly but after spending an hour trying to figure it out on the internet, I'm officially kerfluffled on that issue. In short, if you need to work with Word files and use complicated formatting make sure to give it a test run before you commit.

Pages 08 runs much cleaner than Microsoft Word in OS X. It loads quickly and happily exists far down in my activity monitor. As I typed this review in Pages, it ranged between one and ten percent of the total system resources. When I clicked out of Pages it pleasingly dropped to zero percent.

The included templates are very well designed and cover just about any need. It is telling of just how much of a stranglehold Microsoft has on the word processor market that my biggest problems with Pages are not its own feature set but its ability to play nicely with Word. Separating that issue, running Pages is easier and less intrusive than Word. It allows me to think less about the program and more about the words on the screen. While the feature set is more limited, it has everything I need. While Word still remains on my hard drive, I'm quite pleased to leave the Winnebago in the garage.

You can listen to this review on Surfbits MacReviewCast Episode #122.

Source:  "Review - Pages 08 " by David Sparks, published at MacSparky.com.

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I was a big fan of Apple's Keynote, even before the newest version was released a few weeks ago.  I believe that comparing Keynote to PowerPoint gives one a good synopsis of why Macs are superior to PC's overall.  Don't just take my word for it, consider the following review from my blogging friend, David Sparks, at MacSparky.com:

Presentations and word processing are my bread and butter. That is, I earn my living writing and presenting. I have been writing PowerPoint presentations for years. I'm actually very good at them and occasionally freelance for my geek challenged colleagues. It is with those years of experience in mind that I was initially skeptical about using Apple's presentation software, Keynote. That was, at least, until the first time I saw a Keynote presentation.

I think Keynote (even before this recent update) is superior to PowerPoint in both ease of use and final product. With the release of Keynote '08, the gap has just grown larger. For the purpose of this review, I'm going to skip over a lot of the features that already existed in Keynote and focus on the new additions. If you are not familiar with Keynote, even before the upgrade it was full of stellar templates, transitions, and text effects that made producing convincing presentations a breeze. Indeed there are even more new transitions and effects but that is just the start of some fantastic changes and additional features.

With the new point to point animation you can tell an object where to go on the screen and how to get there. For example, if you have a map of the forest and want to show exactly how the wolf went to the three little pigs homes, you can plot the motion paths with a one click procedure for each stop and Keynote does the rest. With each click during your presentation the wolf will move across the screen at the speed, acceleration, and motion path that you set. The way I used to accomplish this was a very convoluted procedure involving Final Cut's Motion program and a lot of praying. Now its a breeze.

Another new feature is one I didn't even realize I needed but now I couldn't live without. Its called "Instant Alpha". It allows me to incorporate picture, pdfs, and other objects and remove the background. I've talked about how much I like using OmniGraffle but what I've never posted on is the frustration of making a beautiful diagram in OmniGraffle and then having to look at that ugly white background when I import it into Keynote. I guess I could have removed the background all along in Photoshop Elements, but to be honest I never really thought of it. Regardless, with the new Keynote, you just tap the "Instant Alpha" button and then put the mouse inside the color you want to remove. You click and drag and it removes the background on screen for you. When you get it just right, you hit the enter key and its done. It is really easy and extremely useful.

Inevitably, every slideshow I prepare has a run of pictures. A lot of my work involves construction projects and buildings and pictures are essential for demonstrating particular issues. The new keynote has an excellent feature called "Smart Build" that lets you put an entire series of pictures into one slide and easily pick a transition that is flashy or subtle.

Keynote will also now insert a frame around a picture or text box. This is really nice for setting a picture or highlighting text I pull out of a document image. In powerpoint this took two separate images and it was an absolute pain. No more "send to back". No more resizing and moving multiple objects. Just one clicky. Thanks Apple.

Navigating and sorting also got easier with adjustable sizes and new views. Formatting and auto-correcting also got a lot easier with new tools to make production of your keynote faster and more efficient.

Apple also improved the movie import and export function. You can now key a quicktime movie on a mouse click instead of it starting automatically on the slide transition. It also allows you to export your presentation to Quicktime. This export is not, however, just a static movie but you can actually set it to advance on clicks just as if you are viewing it in Keynote. Are you getting this? That means you can take your Keynote and play it on any machine that has Quicktime. Even a beige box that has requires Norton and is covered with stickers that say "Intel inside". This feature will be extremely useful to me when I have to give a presentation using somebody else's windows rig. It will also leave them all wondering, "How did he do that?" And that is a wonderful thing.

So in case you haven't figured it out I'm giving the new Keynote two big thumbs up. You can purchase it as part of the iWork suite for just $79 or $99 for the family pack. Next week I'll be following up this review with my look at Pages '08.

You can listen to this review on the Surfbits MacReview Cast Episode 121.

Source:  "Review - Keynote '08" by David Sparks, published at MacSparky.com.

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Law.com published an excellent article today discussing the viability of lawyers using Macs.  I should note that this article gives this blog a nice little "shout out," but that's not why you should read it.  Rather, if you have given even a moment's thought to switching, you should r ead it because the story told by Mr. Burney mirrors that told to me by other switchers in recent years.  Basically, if you give the Mac a try, you will love it and wonder how you ever got along without it.

In his article, Brett Burney notes his initial skepticism that all the wonderful things about Macs couldn't possibly be true.  Of course, these things include such things as not crashing, quick startups, not having viruses, and everything just working -- all of which Mac users sometimes take for granted.

Mr. Burney's article encapsulates what most Windows-using lawyers find when they actually give Macs a try.  In the end, he concludes that "I am happy to say that using a Mac today in the legal world is absolutely possible" -- just as I have been saying for quite some time.  Of particular interest in this article is the progression that he goes through in reaching his conclusion, as evidenced by these quotes:

• "The MacBook line of laptops are superbly designed. They look great, the keyboards are extremely usable and the actual computer is slender and graceful. There are only a few Windows laptops that can compete with the creative stylings of the MacBook...."
• "I believe the additional cost [of Macs] covers itself in the long run because the Mac is a more reliable hardware platform.  Macs don't quite require the same level of maintenance and technical support as a fleet of Windows computers."  Also, "[t]he usual complaint that Macs are too expensive dissolves quickly when you realize you literally get two computers for the price of one [when considering you can run Windows programs too]."
• "Macs just work. My MacBook Pro finds wireless networks without popping up esoteric dialog boxes. And it "wakes up" within two to five seconds after I open the lid. I rarely shut the computer down when I'm done with my work -- I just simply close the screen. When I open it again, I can immediately get back to work...."
• "Mac users can be immediately productive because the platform is very easy to use and pleasant to operate."  "[T]here are "magic tricks" on the Mac that I can no longer live without" such as the two finger scroll, the built-in sensor that automatically dims the screen in low-light, the backlit keyboard, the MagSafe power adapter, and the ability to 'print to PDF' from any print command.

This article notes that the "biggest hurdle standing in the way of a legal professional using a Mac is the lack of legal-specific software for the platform."  However, he does note that through the use of BootCamp and/or virtualization programs (such as Parallels and others), Mac-using attorneys can run Windows programs when necessary.  Of course, Windows users don't have that option... too bad!

Source:  "Hello, I'm a Lawyer With a Mac" by Brett Burney, published at Law.com.

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As you've probably noticed, this week's posts are focused on the iPhone and how it has been received by other attorneys.  Today, I am pleased to feature the review that David Sparks published at his MacSparky blog after using the iPhone for about a week.  As you may be aware, David is a recent Mac convert, and he was so pleased with his conversion that he stated his own blog.

David originally planned not to get an iPhone.  Then, he made the "mistake" of watching Apple's guided tour of all of the iPhone's great features, and he was convinced to join the crowd and purchase one for himself.  From reading his review, he appears to be thrilled with the iPhone so far.  The following are the highlights of his review:

• Setting up the iPhone was a breeze. There was no manual configuration at all, it was already done. [After synching}, my three email accounts, photo albums, calendar and video were all set up. As of the time of this writing I still haven't bothered with the manual.
• I know a lot of people have been saying the iPhone is not a "business" phone but I'm not really sure that is true. I have been using my new phone to keep in touch with clients and my office via email like never before.
• Email is just easier with the iPhone. I particularly like the built in word/excel/pdf attachment viewer.
• I wish it would support my portable bluetooth keyboard. I'm actually okay with the on screen type pad but I have a portable bluetooth keyboard that is really convenient.
• I would really like to have a program on the iPhone that holds secured data. I have some text files with sensitive information and I can't put them on my iPhone without some sort of security.
• There has been a lot of talk about the inferiority of the Edge network but fortunately I'm nearly always around an accessable WiFi spot. A few times I've done some browsing with WiFI turned off and it is doable but not nearly as fast as WiFi. I really don't have many complaints on that issue.

Source:  "MacSparky's iPhone Review" by David Sparks, published at his MacSparky blog.

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If you are looking for an in-depth review of the iPhone by an attorney, you should check out Finis Price's review published at his TechnoEsq blog.  His article takes a close look at this technological wonder and all its many functions, and he describes what he likes and dislikes about the iPhone.

His review even includes a comparison chart of the iPhone vs. other PDAs and Smartphones.  Some of the highlights of his review are listed below, but I urge you to read his entire article for a much fuller view of the iPhone.

• Aesthetically, the iPhone begs to be touched, yet fingerprints are not a problem.  The screen is so vibrant, any fingerprints are simply not visible.
• As for accessories, you may have to buy some new ones. Some of your iPod accessories will work with the iPhone and some won't. You'll just have to experiment. The iPhone will inform you when you plug an accessory in whether it will function or not.
• My 7 year-old nephew Hunter figured out on his own how to view photographs, listen to my iPod and view movies in a few seconds (though he is the smartest 7 year-old I know, I don't think he could do the same on a Treo).
• Typing on the iPhone is quite a bit different than typing on a Treo or a Blackberry. Instead of having the predictive type guessing what you are typing and attempting to predict it, the iPhone simply waits until you've typed the word and attempts to correct the word taking into account that you may have hit the wrong key when typing. It works very well and if you trust it, you can type faster than on any other Smartphone.
• While you can't perform a search for contacts in the address book, they are sorted into sections for each letter, with each letter accessible by the alphabet running down the right of the screen. I have over 2,000 contacts in my phone and can get from A-Z in 3 seconds and to any letter of the alphabet with one push of my finger. No number takes more than 3 seconds to find.
• Each voicemail is shown, listing the caller and name (if in your address book) much the same way emails are listed in your email. To listen, you simply press the voicemail you want to listen to and it is played back, with the standard slider to rewind and forward just like a video on your computer. This feature alone is worth the price of the iPhone and is one of the revolutionary aspects of this phone.
• The iPhone's mail program ... can check IMAP, POP3 and also supports Push mail from Yahoo!  You can do everything in the mail application you can do with other phones and switch between multiple accounts and account types with the press of a button.
• Because the iPhone runs Apple's OS X, it contains a full working web browser, Safari. I'm talking about a web page that looks exactly as it does on your desktop. Additionally, you can have more than one window open at a time.
• The iPhone is definitively the best iPod ever made.

Source:  "iPhone Review for Attorneys" by Finis Price, published at his TechnoEsq blog.

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Renowned blogger Ernest Svensen (better known as Ernie the Attorney) recently published his initial impressions of his new iPhone.  The highlights of his review are listed below:

• Activation went off without a hitch: all of my contacts and calendar information synchronized like a charm.
• The sync process also ported over all of my email settings, my photos and some of my iTunes music and videos.
• The phone works absolutely great, and the iPod is the best ever. 
• So what's so special about it? Well, mostly it's the fact that the interface is both glitzy and yet intricately simple.  And, by that, I mean that a lot of time has been spent figuring out how to make things happen naturally.
• The strength of the iPhone is how smoothly all of the features work as a whole.

Source:  "iHeaven" by Ernest Svensen, published at his Ernie the Attorney blog.

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BusinessWeek and the Boston Consulting Group conducted a study to find out which companies are the most innovative in the eyes of senior executives.  Guess which company topped the list -- Apple -- for the third year in a row!  The report says that it is "a master of superb product, store and experience design." 

Source:  "Most Innovative Companies", published at AOL.com.

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The upcoming (June 2007) print edition of Consumer Reports magazine gives high praise and high rankings to Macs in both the notebook and desktop categories.  Of course, this comes as no surprise to Mac users, but it's always nice to see objective rankings to back up what we already know.

The 15" MacBook Pro was the top-rated notebook in the workhorse models category, beating out 10 other portable models.  The 20" iMac desktop was ranked third overall and given "Quick Pick" designation in the workhorse models category.

Also, based on feedback given by over 77,000 Consumer Reports readers, Apple was the top ranked manufacturer.  Finally, Consumer Reports described Apple's Tech Support as "superior".  All of these are more objective reasons to consider making the move to a Mac.

Source:  "Consumer Reports June 2007: Apple Macs Rank High in Notebook and Desktop Categories" published at the Switch To A Mac blog.

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The following article, published last month in USA Today, takes a look at the two main virtualization options available to Mac users:

Reluctant to switch to a Macintosh because so much of your favorite software requires Microsoft Windows? Now you don't have to hold back.

Apple's free Boot Camp beta software can also make your Intel-based Mac a screaming-fast Windows machine. But when you turn your computer on, you must choose to work in either Windows or Mac's OS X Tiger.

That's why I've been more intrigued by Parallels Desktop for Mac. The $80 "virtualization" software lets you run the Mac's operating system and Windows side-by-side. Alas, compared with Boot Camp, Parallels was poky and buggy when I first tried it last year.

Last week, the Seattle-area start-up behind Parallels unveiled a less-geeky update that addresses many of its shortcomings, including plug-and-play support for USB 2.0 devices. Moreover, Parallels piles on new features, the neatest of which makes it look like you are running Windows programs right on your Mac desktop, along with other Mac programs.

It's still not for beginners. And I got off to a tough start testing the latest version of Parallels with Windows XP on an iMac. Windows couldn't recognize my Hewlett-Packard USB printer or Seagate USB storage device. I encountered the lingering hourglass, bizarre "fatal error" messages and the dreaded "blue screen of death" that sometimes precedes a PC meltdown.

Parallels said the snags had more to do with a corrupted copy of XP rather than its own software. Seems so. The glitches disappeared when I loaded a fresh retail copy of XP Professional.

Let's dive into the Parallels universe.

•The basics. Think of a virtual machine as a stand-alone computer on your Mac. It behaves as if it has a Pentium processor (though the Intel chip inside the Mac is something different). It works best on Macs with a lot of memory -- Parallels recommends at least 1 gigabyte -- because the software can put a strain on the system.

Parallels does more than just Windows. It works with Linux, OS/2, MS-DOS and other operating systems. You choose a guest operating system during installation.

In most cases, you'll have to buy a new copy of Windows (not an upgrade) and activate or authorize the software online or over the phone. It's Microsoft's way of making sure your copy of Windows is legit.

The XP Pro version I used for testing cost $300. Ouch. However, if you already have a version of Windows loaded on the Mac and are using Boot Camp, you need not reinstall it for Parallels. Microsoft will make you reactivate, however, since it now thinks you are running Windows on a different computer.

If you just bought a Mac and are retiring an old PC, you can transfer Windows (plus programs and data) from that old computer to the Mac using a new migration tool called Parallels Transporter. You'll have to connect a cable to both machines. Parallels says to check licensing agreements to make sure you can legally transfer the PC's version of Windows to another machine.

• Parallels or Boot Camp? I was impressed with the speed at which basic Windows programs such as Internet Explorer and Quicken ran in Parallels. But when Parallels is running, trying to do things such as open iTunes or iPhoto on the Mac side is noticeably slower.

Indeed, Boot Camp outshines Parallels in a few ways. It's free. Unlike Parallels, it works with camcorders and other devices you connect via a FireWire cable. It's superior if you work with heavy-duty graphics or play 3D games. Though you can run Windows Vista in Parallels, you cannot take advantage of the new operating system's lovely Aero graphics.

• Virtualization reality. Parallels is much friendlier than it used to be. As before, you click on simple VCR-like icons to control the virtual machine. Click "play" and a configuration window flips around to show XP in its own window.

You can move your mouse pointer at will between operating systems and easily share an Internet connection. You can drag and drop files between the Mac and Windows, too, or drag an entire file folder onto a "Shared Folders" icon in Windows. I used a picture in my Mac's iPhoto library as the background in Windows. It was oddly out of focus on the Windows side. Not so on the Mac side.

The most dramatic enhancement in Parallels is called Coherence, a feature that lets you run Windows applications (Outlook, Internet Explorer, etc.) directly on the Mac desktop. Windows icons appear on the strip of programs on the Mac known as the Dock. If seeing the Windows taskbar above the Dock is disconcerting, you can switch to a full-screen Windows view.

Windows wrests control of the CD/DVD-ROM player from OS X when Parallels is running. I successfully copied music off a CD in Windows Media Player but couldn't play a DVD because I lacked a compatible DVD decoder in my copy of Windows. A second software DVD player in Windows called InterActual failed to play my discs because of a confusing video problem.

Windows is as vulnerable inside a Mac to viruses as any PC. Parallels comes with a six-month trial version of Internet security anti-virus software from a small company called Kaspersky Lab. It wasn't bug-free. After scanning Windows for viruses with the program, I received a funky error message indicating that a previous launch of the Kaspersky program had failed.

For mainstream users who need to run a Windows app or two on their Mac, Parallels is a fine program that has come a long way.

Source: "Windows, Macs Co-Exist" by Edward C. Baig, published in USA Today.

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LifeHacker recently published the following list of its Top 10 free downloads for the Mac:

1. Quicksilver  ::  keyboard interface
2. TextWrangler  ::  text editor
3. SilverKeeper  ::  backup utility
4. Adium  ::  instant messenger
5. Handbrake  ::  DVD ripper
6. iSquint  ::  video file to iPod converter
7. VirtueDesktops  ::  virtual desktop manager
8. The Unarchiver  ::  archive extractor
9. VLC  ::  media player
10. iTerm  ::  tabbed terminal

Source:  "LH Top 10: Free Mac Downloads" by Gina Trapani, published at LifeHacker.

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Which machine is better for business use -- Mac or PC?  You know my opinion, but let's look at another analysis of this issue, this time by The Register.   

Ability to Run Other OS:  Macs allow you to run either the BootCamp public beta, which allows you to dual boot a system with OSX and Windows XP, or a virtualisation product like Parallels which supports a range of operating systems, including OSX, Vista and "older" operating systems like XP, 2000, NT and DOS.  Of course, PCs offer no such options, and you cannot run Mac OS X on a PC.

Price Comparison:  When comparing prices between a Dell laptop and the latest MacBook, both with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the author found that they cost roughly the same for an equivalent load of software. However, he noted that there's really no comparison between the free iLife products that you get with a new Mac and the random mix of crippled and evaluation software that ships with the average PC. 

Availability of Peripherals:  The author notes that it is often times harder to find peripherals that supports Macs. He does acknowledge that as more Macs are sold, this may change.  On a personal note, I have never had any trouble locating peripherals, as the few that cannot be picked up locally at an office supply store or an Apple Store can easily be ordered online and in hand a day or two later.

Software Options:  Whatever you want to do, you're liable to be able to find a range of products to choose from for the PC, but in many categories you will be restricted to a choice of one for the Mac, and you may well have a job finding a place to buy it.  I won't argue that there are more software titles available for PCs, but does more translate to better?   I say no.

Technical Issues:  As is widely acknowledged, the author notes that he has spent close to zero time while on the road trying to fix compatibility and technical issues with his Mac, whereas it is a regular issue with my desktop PC.

You can read the whole article by clicking HERE and decide for yourself which system is best for your business.

Source:  "Mac or PC? You've Seen the Ads, How Do You Choose for Business?" by David Perry, published at The Register.

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AppleMatters recently published a review of Adium v. 1.0, which did a nice job of comparing and contrasting its features with Apple's iChat.  Here's a quick comparison of these two programs:

Adium:

• 16 Supported Chat Networks, including AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, MSN, .Mac, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, LiveJournal, Lotus Sametime, Novel GroupWise, QQ, SIP, Yahoo Japan, and Zephyr.
• Ability to sign in with up to five different accounts at the same time.
• Flexible status management options give you the ability to preset length of time before Adium shows your status to "inactive" or "idle"
• Does not support video or Audio chat at this time.
• Many customization options, including ability to change your contact list themes, dock icons, emoticons, message styles, scripts, service icons, sound sets, status icons, etc.

iChat:

• 4 Supported Chat Networks:   .Mac, AIM, Jabber, and Bonjour.
• Ability to have different accounts, but you can only log in to one at a time.
• Allows you to manually set your status as "away".
• Does offer and enable video and/or audio chats.
• Some customiztion options, primarily relating to message appearance and sounds.

In my opinion, each program has a signficant drawback/flaw.  Adium allows you to basically chat with anyone, no matter what chat client they use, but it lacks audio and video capabilities.  iChat offers those options, but only for its supported platforms, which are limited.

I typically use Adium as my day-to-day chat client, and I switch over to iChat when I want to have a video chat with someone.  Admittedly, this is a little frustrating, but it allows me to come pretty close to having the best of both worlds.

Source:  "Review: Adium 1.0" by Tanner Godarzi, published at AppleMatters.

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Mitch Ratcliffe at ZDNet is running a series comparing the MacBook Pro and ThinkPad X60, which consists of the following articles:

• The Great Vista/Mac Showdown: Before the starting gun
• The Great Vista/Mac Showdown: Unboxing the ThinkPad X60 and MacBook Pro
• The Great Vista/Mac showdown: Hardware is where customization begins and ends
• The Great Vista/Mac Showdown: Minimum requirements; Vista isn't bloatware
• The Great Vista/Mac Showdown: Mac migration a breeze, Vista's migration is a headache

If you're interested in a thorough side-by-side comparison of the Mac vs. PC debate, you should definitely check out these articles.

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With Griffin's new iTalk Pro, you may be able to find another legitimate business justification for an iPod. This product allows you to create voice memos into the iPod, which are automatically time/date stamped. You can read a full review of this product HERE.

Source: "Review: iTalk Pro from Griffin Technology" by Brian Burnham, published at MacMerc.com.

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Earlier this month, PC Magazine gave the 15-inch Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro a 4.5 out of 5 rating, earning it an Editor's Choice award. You can click HERE to read the in depth review by Cisco Cheng. It is nice to see Macs receiving accolades from a publication primarily devoted to PCs. The best quote from this review is "The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core 2 Duo) offers the performance and features of the best laptops on the market." High praise from an unlikely source.

Thanks to the Switch to a Mac blog for its post about this article.

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For many years, I have been a user of PCs - from DOS 3.0 on up to Windows 2003 Server.  This was not because I dislike Macs, but because my job has been taking care of Windows environments.  You see, I am the Director of Media & Technology for the South Carolina Bar, a position I have held for over 12 years.

Last November, a friend of mine told me of the many great things he was doing with a Mac PowerBook G4. I talked the Bar's Executive Director into purchasing one for me to "test drive."  Now, we already had five Macs in our Communications Division, so I have had some experience with them, but not as my main computer or main laptop. At any rate, I got a 15" PowerBook G4 with 2GB of RAM and 100GB HD with a determination to learn something new and form my own opinion.

The G4 is now the only laptop I use, and I'm having a great time learning all the stuff it can do.  I only wish it was a MacBook Pro, so I could experiment with running XP on it.  I now only carry a Windows laptop for our speakers using PowerPoint who are not comfortable with the Mac.  I have had little issue in learning the machine, and it only took about a week for me to get comfortable with it.

Last month, I purchased a Mac Pro for home (I do some video projects on the side) loaded with dual 3.0ghz Xeons, 5GB of RAM, a 250GB system drive, a 500GB secondary drive, and a 23" Cinema Display. I have Final Cut Studio loaded on it.  It is way cool.

I still have a PC at home, but I use Remote Desktop Connector (available on Microsoft's website) on the Mac to connect to it. In fact, I have Remote Desktop loaded on my PowerBook, and I can administer any Windows server here at the Bar building from almost anywhere. I still have Quicken and a couple of other windows things on the PC at home that I'm not quite ready to move to Mac yet.

My two Media staff members have until recently been editing all the Distance Learning and other video programming for the Bar on Windows machines with Adobe Premiere and the video suite.  However, I anticipate switching them over to Mac Pros next July. We bought one just like the one I have at home for them to use to learn Final Cut. 

I am convinced that Final Cut is a better tool than Premiere, even though we have used Premiere for the past six years. Apple seems to stay one step ahead of Adobe. Also, at some point, I plan to install an XSan for video warehousing and sharing, and I am anxious to get my hands on OS X Server.

The only thing I haven't found just yet for the Mac is a comparable program to MS Access. My friends tell me MySQL is the route for the Mac, and I have downloaded it and am just cracking it.  By the way, we just loaded LINUX on an old computer here at the Bar, and we are trying OpenOffice on it.

I read with interest Larry Bodine's article about the issues he claimed to have had with a PowerMac G5.  Even as a novice Mac user, I can't see why Mr. Bodine is having that much trouble, unless it is all on purpose.  It could have been a marketing ploy as you suggested, but in my opinion it was not a very good one.

If Mr. Bodine wants to trash his G5, I will be glad to roll my trash can to the end of his driveway to collect it.  I believe that you have to try new things with an open mind, and it sounds to me like he got the Mac with a predisposition.  Keep up the great work with your blog!

Joey Heape
Director of Media & Technology
South Carolina Bar

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From Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome.com:

Your next computer may very well come from Apple, largely based on my first reason you'll be compelled to "think different."

1. Duality. Windows Vista won't be blocked on Intel-based Apple hardware. This means you will (in theory) be able to purchase a Mac computer and run Windows on it, just as you would a regular ol' PC. At least, Apple won't stop folks from doing so. However, current AND future "Windows" machines will not be able to run OS X. That's a big win for Apple. It's upon this first point that the rest of my list is built.

2. Style. Yes, you can trick out your PC with all sorts of neon cables and fancy case accoutrements - but there's something to be said about Apple's simplicity. No other PC manufacturer has come close to mass producing an elegant design that was equally as functional. It's the hardware, man.

3. Fun. When was the last time you downloaded something new. And I don't mean a new registry cleaner. I mean something completely and utterly new - out of the box new. Something that you just hadn't seen before (either freeware or shareware). The old "there's no software for the Mac" argument hasn't held water for a couple of years now, overturning itself with the advent of OS X. You'll now have a safety net underneath you.

4. Knowledge. Don't let platform bigotry get in the way of understanding and appreciating good technology. We all are better for knowing more, and that's something you should look forward to doing - not avoiding at all costs. Bury the hatchet if you think that this still is the Mac you first saw in 1984.

5. Equality. Pretty much anything and everything you can do in Windows, you can now do on OS X. Not everything, mind you - but in knowing that a new Apple machine (with proper software, I'd assume) will allow you to boot into Windows, any kind of OS driver issues will be further minimized. There's always Microsoft's Virtual PC, too.

6. Support. Think about it for a second: just how many millions (if not billions) of Windows PC hardware configurations are out there? Now, how many Apple hardware configurations are there? Believe me, thousands of Windows problems are rooted in the very hardware the OS itself is running atop. When there are a limited amount of possibilities that exist, you should find a solution quicker - or possibly know that no solution exists.

7. Malaise. This market is full of it - PC manufacturers who knowingly make crappy systems, larger-than-life brands who can't deliver on their "help desk" promises, etc. To put it to you another way, I'm still struggling to find a computer builder who isn't gonna give me a raw deal for a system. I know what kind of hardware I want, but I also appreciate having a single warranty (four years, minimum). Forget about all the names you think are great - because they're not. They *ALL* suck, and it may be time that we consumers start telling 'em to get their act together and give us an amazing experience. Not to say that Apple would be any better, but it's no worse than any existing PC alternative!

8. iPod. Yes, it's overpriced. Yes, the ala carte pricing stinks compared to existing (and future) subscription models like Napster. However, it's also holding over 80% of the portable media player market! Car manufacturers, accessory crafters, and countless other services are springing up around a single device - and there's no such thing as an iPod killer, so get over it. If something isn't iPod compatible, it likely doesn't have longevity or enough market share to be worthwhile. You can use your iPod on Windows, but... it's sincerely not the same.

9. Malware. Viruses, Spyware, et al - they're bad, and they're all over Windows. Even when Vista ships, it will still be vulnerable to the same software that has plagued previous and existing versions of the OS. If you don't want your parents to accidentally send a trojan out to everybody in their address book, don't buy 'em software that might or might NOT work - have them run on OS X. It really sucks to say that, but Windows is still the tallest nail (and it will continue to get pounded as such). When you absolutely NEED your Windows software, it should only be a click away on the same machine.

10. Change. When was the last time you were excited about using your computer? Something different is something good - and a new Microsoft operating system (the first one in half a decade) is not likely to do the trick. Are you bored with the way things work? Do you want your computing lifestyle to be interesting again? Consider something new, something completely new ... and now for something completely different.

Source: "Ten Reasons Your Next PC Will Be From Apple" by Chris Pirillo, published at Lockergnome.com on January 11, 2006.

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Reprinted with permission from my blogging friend, Grant Griffiths:

I have been promoting the use of Mac's in the law office since I switched to the Mac platform August, 2004. As I have stated many times about my switch, why did I wait so long to visit the Apple store? Why did I wait so long to switch.

The Mac OS just works and works great. Since August of last year, my 14" iBook has never crashed. Nor have I experienced the dreaded blue screen of death. Virus worries are non-existent. I don't even have a virus program on my Mac.

When I started to consider the Mac for my office, I researched the switch for roughly 6 months. I looked at word processing programs first. My choice is Microsoft Word for Mac. I am able to do anything with my Mac that you can do with your Windows (windoze) machine. Best of all, I can swap documents with clients and other attorneys who use windoze machines. So, don't let anyone tell you that you can't work in a windoze office with your Mac. And don't let anyone tell you that you can't swap documents with another attorney or client with your Mac.

Next, in my consideration of the Mac, I explored the case management software out there for the Mac. Now I must admit, you don't get the choice of Time Matters. Except perhaps the World Edition that can be used over the internet. But, for me that was not the answer. I am a solo, who has my office in my home. My Paralegal works out of her home. She does nothing with my calendar and I answer my own phone. So, I did not need a program that would support multiple people and staff. But, I needed a program that would do what I needed. Manage my case load. The result of my research brought me to Lawstream. I also must admit that I am just in the process of implementing Lawstream into my office. But, from what I have seen so far, it will do anything and everything you need in case management.

I also use some other great programs with my Mac in my law office. The last one I am going to mention is Circusponies Notebook. I set the notebook up just like one of those trial notebooks you can buy. I set this up for any major case I have and it is wonderful. I put PDF's of all the case documents in the notebook and also use it to organize the case in that fashion. To get my PDF's on my computer I use the ScanSnap scanner.

Besides all that I have explained above. One of the best things about the Mac in the law office is the savings I have experienced. While some may claim the Mac cost more, I would have to argue it actually cost less. Think about it, I don't have a virus program on my Mac. I have experienced no down time due to a virus. How many windoze users can say that. Before I made the switch, I would pay at a minimum of $1,500 per year on IT support. I now spend zero. When it came time to establish a network, I just plugged them in. None of that "stuff" you have to do with a windoze machine. So, in my humble opinion, Mac actually cost less than windoze.

For you 3L's out there, if you have a Mac already, keep it. You will be able to use it in the office you may end up in. I will warn you however, if your future firm is using Timematters or some other windoze based case management program, you may have problems. But, as far as drafting documents, reading PDF's and organizing your cases, you can do anything with your Mac.

Finally, I leave you with the best source for information out there on using Mac's in the law office. Go to MacLaw.org. This is a great group of Mac using attorneys. I actually spent the entire 6 months I was researching Mac for my own law office on the email list for MacLaw.org. Best of all, the members are eager to answer any question you might have. And, this is a great source for information on software and applications for your Mac.

Mac's in the law office, you bet. What are you waiting for?

Source: "Why A Mac?" by Grant Griffiths, published at The Practice blog on October 22, 2005.

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