Guest Post :: SC Bar Technology Director's View of Macs

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

Comments

[Doug]

Larry should stick to marketing consulting and leave the "technology" to others who can "figure stuff out."

The Siebel article Bodine references from last month's Law Technology News and Should Lawyers Use Macs (http://www.lacba.org/Files/LAL/Vol29No8/2297.pdf) from the current issue of Los Angeles lawyer magazine are much more enlightened, useful and informed looks at the role of the Mac in the legal profession.

[Greg]

That was a great post. I enjoyed the insight. I use a Mac heavily in my trial practice. I use "Notebook" as my case management tool. I use the iLife suite and Keynote to prepare much of my evidentiary audio-visual displays for trial. A friend convinced me to try the Mac about two years ago. Since I bought my first 12" Powerbook (which I still have), I have had five Macs, and I currently use a MacBook as my primary machine. I was intrigued by your suggestion that you will be testing OpenOffice.org. I find OpenOffice.org and the OpenDocument Format to be very enticing. I am excited about Massachusetts decision to adopt the ODF for all government transactions. The main roadblock that I see to OpenOffice.org being adopted by the legal community is its lack of ability to create a Table of Authorities for federal filings.

Check out this article on OpenOffice.org from the perspective of a law office technology guru.

[Stanley feldman]

The increasing popularity of Macs has been exciting. At the 2005 Bar Convention, the technology speaker asked for a showing of hands of those using Macs in their law practices. Cindy Floyd and I raised our hands. The speaker commented that it was twice as many as the year before. I do my own pleadings, briefs and memos, so use of a Mac has always been somewhat of a "no-brainer." Not only is it easier, it is more fun and often doesn't seem like work at all, not to mention the cool factor of being "different." and having the apple light up when the computer is open.