I have written several posts about Linux and whether it is ready for the solo and small law office, listing the pros and cons as I have seen them. However, there is one “con” that people have in their minds when they think of Linux that should not be there: that Open Source Software (OSS) does not have the support that commercial products do. This has contributed somewhat to a resistance to adopt Linux in the business world. The shame of it is, it is a false perception.
People seem hesitant to accept open source because “there is no company behind it” like Microsoft. First of all, from an OS standpoint, support of Linux distros by the companies that publish them has come a long way in the past few years. Companies like Canonical (the distributor of Ubuntu Linux), Novell (SuSE Linux), and Red Hat offer support programs that can assist you with your problem, although these programs vary in pricing and how they are conducted. The point is, however, that despite the fact that the OS is developed, maintained, and improved by an amorphous body of programmers (the open source community), there are real companies behind the distros that will be there if you have a question or problem. For those that take a hands-on approach to their systems, there are forums for help, such as Red Hat’s Knowledge Base, Ubuntu’s Forums, and SuSE Forums. Also, with Linux PCs now being sold by Dell, they offer support for their systems as well.
Second of all, there are the OSS applications on Linux. OpenOffice has a network of trained consultants to help you, along with support packages offered by Sun Microsystems, and many books on the subject (just like all the books on Microsoft Office). For browsers, Firefox regularly checks for and downloads patches and upgrades to keep it up to date and secure, and has third party books as well, including a Dummies book. The same is true for Thunderbird e-mail.
Third of all, there are more and more consulting companies providing Linux support, as open source gains more ground in the marketplace. Since open source software is often times free, the money is in the support, and more and more companies are realizing this.
My overall opinion on whether Linux and open source apps are ready for the small law office is still rather guarded, and I continue to take a wait-and-see attitude as the OSS picture changes; however, you should NOT make a decision against Linux and OSS based on any belief that you are “on your own” on implementation, maintenance, and troubleshooting. The resources out there are too broad to cover in this post, however. I invite my readers who are Linux users to comment on other Linux distros and law-related apps and what support is available out there.
March 1, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I really believe Linux is ready for the business world. I recently installed Ubuntu, here is more about the install
http://www.itsupportnotes.com/ubuntu/ubuntu-desktop-a-linux-os-for-everyone.html
Does that mean Linux is ready for every office? No, but then again neither is MS. The only advantage is software is written for the platform. As more and more applications become web based I think there will be less dependence on the MS platform and thus a real move towards open source software. Consider this, a workstation requires 2 pricey licenses just to write a letter. (MS xp or vista & a version of MS office) With Linux you just need to have a blank CD.
Thanks,
Doug
March 1, 2008 at 5:59 pm
The support options for the various Linux distos and the other software platforms, most notably Open Office, definitely remove -or at least reduce – a significant obstacle to adoption for those products.
The bigger issue with those platforms, in my opinion, is interoperability. While there are plugins to allow ODF and OpenXML format saves between the various office productivity suites, there are always issues with that type of cross-format saving. The frequency of document corruption with Word/WordPerfect round-tripping of documents in the late 90s and early 00s were incredibly high. The loss of formatting, most notable in paragraph numbering, was also a huge problem.
As long as your clients need documents in a particular format, that’s what you have to produce to support them, and these days that format is the MS Office format. Love it or hate it, making a decision otherwise (unless your clients are working in those formats) can cost you may more than the $800 for a copy of Office and an MS workstation OS.
March 1, 2008 at 7:29 pm
[...] Open source software has played a major role in the advancement of technology in recent years. In fact, GarrettWorley.com uses the open source blogging platform WordPress. The fact that open source doesn’t have companies standing behind them (at least in the traditional sense) has led many to question whether open source products like Linux are ready for the business world. Steven Richardson argues that whatever conclusion you reach, you should not make a decision against Linux based on the belief that you’ll receive no suppor…. [...]
March 1, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Seth: Interesting point you raise, and I agree that there are other issues that affect the adoption of Linux and OS software in the small law office. Interoperability of file formats sounds like a good topic for a future post.
March 2, 2008 at 1:07 pm
IANAL and so as far as legal support software for Linux I can’t say, but Linux is and can be good for the SMB and even large corporations.
Case in Point as this article on CNET shows WINDOWS is not required.
http://www.news.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html
Another point is that support calls seem to be non-existent in the company since Linux provides a much more stable platform.
As a Linux user myself. (I have Vista on a separate hard drive but rarely ever use it.) I personally enjoy the freedom Linux has given to me. There are some applications which I miss in Windows but they are not do or die business applications either.
Lets also discuss how much easier it is to maintain a Linux system as well.
Anti-Virus installed only to keep me from accidentally passing on any number of Windows based viruses to my MS using counterparts.
Firewall is IP tables based, considered the most effective and efficient method by many security experts. Nothing from an outside source I do not allow in gets past it. Matter of fact 9 out of 10 security issues require physical access to the Linux System to exploit. Since that is even rarer than an actual Linux based virus, I have yet to see a major compromise of a *NIX based server. Compared to Windows based servers and desktops that get taken over by bots, well you get the picture. A business of any size needs to look at the overall security issues as well.
TOC is substantially lower with FOSS as well since licensing and auditing requirements are pretty much nil. There may be a few programs one may need to track but those are far fewer and in a Windows based environment where every single piece of software has to be tracked and accounted for to make sure that licensing issues don’t arise. Especially if the BSA decides to make a visit.
Lastly Linux is just more fun. I can manipulate my desktop (and I do) to suit my desires. I have menu options, layout options, look and feel options, system options etc. Very few of which can be applied to Microsoft. (Though with KDE 4 priming to work as a replacement desktop manager on Vista and XP that will soon change as well.)
Software for Legal applications do exist but I also know they are not as rich and robust as their Windows counterparts at this time. Though I can see that changing in the near future as law firms move from MS to Linux. (Oddly enough this is a noticeable trend among small law firms which is causing a “Trickle Up” effect it seems.)
Though Linux isn’t quite ready to meet all needs in the business community it is growing at a extremely fast rate. Applications, the OS itself and the interfacing software are all working on a six month to one year cycle rate for major (version) upgrades. This is causing Linux to catch up, and surpass Windows in functions and features. By the time MS releases their next version of Windows Ubuntu alone will see 6 Major Version releases of their Linux based system.
Interoperability between applications and OS’s in general will always be an issue. Fortunately the EU is forcing MS to release the information to make interoperability less so and I don’t think that “Non-Commercial” use clause is going to fly with the EU.
However, projects like Samba, OpenOffice and countless others have always worked diligently to address this and have, very surprisingly at times, done a terrific job doing so.
The reality is that despite some minor issues, and few shortcomings, I not only prefer Linux I am an advocate of it. Not an extremist mind you but I will show businesses and users the advantages of it compared to Windows any day.
Lastly why I switched from Windows to Linux. I am a tech (geek if you will) who relies and getting access to a large number of sites for information. Well MS in their oh so personal (and misguided) decision decided that the information from those web sites needed to be censored. Please keep in mind these are tech info sites, not black hat hacker sites. The information on these sites were mostly about the Windows Registry file and how to tweak it for certain desired results. After an update all but a very few were blacklisted in MS Internet Explorer. Even Firefox had been curtailed. That for me was the final straw. I had been using Linux as server for a long time and was already dual booting with Linux on my Hard Drive anyway. I simply ripped out Windows and really haven’t looked back since.
For me that has been of the best decisions of my life.
March 2, 2008 at 1:49 pm
File format interoperability is an issue. The real question is “what are you trying to accomplish?” For finished documents where it’s important to retain the fidelity of the layout PDF is the appropriate solution. If the goal is simply document interchange there are several choices. The simplest is emailing documents back and forth, so long as the content is preserved subtle details in layout may not matter. For a more collaborative environment other options are available: Google docs, silk-project.org or other remote collaboration projects, wikis and “groupware” tools like drupal, or even VNC for real-time mutual document editing. Obviously there are varying degrees of security in-among the various choices, from the entirely insecure regular email through trusting a third party such as Google to self hosted collaboration solutions secured by adding in world-class security via the likes of OpenSSH and OpenVPN.
March 2, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Nice article, and as battle-hardened customers know, the support we get from the proprietary software companies is often hardly worth the bother. We still have to hit Google, mailing lists, forums, the kid down the street, and so forth to get knowledgeable support.
I am a bit puzzled by “I continue to take a wait-and-see attitude as the OSS picture changes.” What’s to change? Legally, FOSS is stable as a table. It’s proprietary licenses and EULAs that change unilaterally and arbitrarily.
March 2, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Karl says: “…so long as the content is preserved subtle details in layout may not matter.”
I’ve had to deal with borderline revolts within the legal industry if line or page endings change on legal briefs. Paragraph numbering is critical to the efficacy of a contract. These are two things that are probably considered “subtle” but are actually critical in legal. Moreover, based on feedback from those who deal with corrupt documents (Levitt & James and Microsystems are just two I’ve dealt with), the constant back and forth between different platforms, and the associated conversions by the “compatibility” modes that each has are the main causes of document corruption, which becomes data loss. PDF is the correct solution for final documents, but getting to that point often requires a number of exchanges back and forth, and platform incompatibilities there will cause issues.
Shaun says: “Software for Legal applications do exist but I also know they are not as rich and robust as their Windows counterparts at this time. Though I can see that changing in the near future as law firms move from MS to Linux. (Oddly enough this is a noticeable trend among small law firms which is causing a “Trickle Up” effect it seems.)”
Show me a good red-lining tool for Linux. Or a decent citation tool. Lacking that, show any tool that does those things. How about document automation? A decent template and macros package? And then there’s the most important one, an integrated document management solution. A sole proprietor may not need these things, but any organization with multiple people trying to efficiently produce consistent work product will need these things.
I also question the value of 6 major upgrades for Linux in the time Windows does one, and why that matters. Since the release of XP, there hasn’t really been a need for any improvements in the OS from an organizational point of view. XPSP2 can be considered a major upgrade based on how it changes the OS, but even putting that aside, no one needed or wanted Vista, other than Microsoft, who needed the money. Still, the fact that a Linux build has 6 major releases is a sign of immaturity in the platform, not a sign of maturity in the platform.
Integration and interoperability is king. Linux doesn’t have it yet, at least not for Legal.
March 3, 2008 at 5:56 am
Ellen: The reason I am taking a “wait and see” attitude towards Linux in the law office is partially explained by Seth in the post that follows yours (#8). Add in the lack of legal specific software on a par with Time Matters and Amicus Attorney (case management), trial preparation software, and the like, and you will see why I am not ready to recommend it yet. Check out some of my posts from last summer on Linux in the law office for more specifics.
Seth: Again, nice comments on integration and interoperability. I will definitely look into it regarding future posts.
March 14, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Steven,
From what I have seen, the lack of available niche software like is really a hold up for others as well. I recently was talking with an administrator for a school district and he had the same concerns with a the availability of educational software for the Linux platform.
Outside of that issue, I have been really pleased with what I have found so far.
May 12, 2008 at 6:16 pm
[...] mention this as just another example of the false impression that there is a lack of support in the Linux and Open Source Software (OSS) world. Here there is a consistent and regular release [...]