Software

Crossover to Linux

/ Bruce Cameron

I’ve been running CrossOver on my CentOS Linux desktop for the last week or so and have been quite impressed with the software. For those that may not of heard, CrossOver allows you to install and run Windows applications under Linux without the need for a Microsoft Operating System license. Once installed, its just a matter of click and run.

With the exception of Access, I had no problems installing and running the Office 2003 Pro suite, OneNote, Flash, Quicken, and Acrobat. While the CrossOver install process does add an additional layer of complexity when compared to a native install under Windows, for CrossOver supported applications the process is simply a matter of running an install wizard application and specifying which CDROM contains the application install disk. For unsupported applications, installation gets a bit more complicated and my attempts to install demo versions of Tabs3/PracticeMaster and Amicus Attorney have failed. I should note that, at present, I’ve only tried twice to install these applications and have yet to crack open the relevant documentation so my failures are more indicative of my lack of time than the software’s overall performance.

Rocket Matter Redux

/ Bruce Cameron

Greg Broiles is correct in pointing out that I did leave out hardware costs from my ROI computation. I also left out the cost of Internet access, the availability of high speed Internet access, and a myriad of other factors that would go into an exhaustive ROI computation. Greg’s point is quite valid, any ROI analysis has to be done from a specific set of circumstances and will give different results for different inputs.

I think the software as a service (SaaS) model is the potential of being the next great thing after all it affords the vendor greater control over their intellectual property, eliminates the end user’s upfront software costs, and may reduce the end user’s hardware investment. For the model to work, the end user has to have reliable access to a high speed Internet connection. For those of us in rural areas, we are the Internet’s hinterland and Internet access often means dial-up, high speed translates to 9600 baud, and reliability is dependent on the vagaries of the gods and the local phone company (surveys show that only about 39% of rural households in my neck of the woods have access to broadband Internet service).

I think that both Rocket Matter and Clio have the potential to be great products. Of all the practice management products I’ve reviewed so far, I think that Rocket Matter offers the most user-friendly, KISS interface out there. If it were a standalone product, my decision as to which practice management system to use would be simple. The ugly reality is I’m a one computer, one lawyer practice with a dodgy internet connection and I’m not sure that SaaS is for me. Your mileage may vary.

Rocket Matter & Clio

/ Bruce Cameron / 3 Comments

Both Rocket Matter and Clio are online practice management solutions. Based on their respective demos, they both offer an integrated intake-to-billing system. Sam Glover on the Lawyerist offers a good review of both Clio and Rocket Matter.

While both products offer very attractive user interfaces and operating system independence, I don’t get their pricing model. Based on their introductory pricing, ether product will cost a single lawyer firm $600 per year. At first blush, this is less than half the cost of a product like AbacusLaw, but a maintenance contract for the more traditional practice management solutions typically run less than $200 per year, the long term cost of the online products soon outstrips the cost of the more traditional solutions.

So, I don’t get the “why” of online practice management. There doesn’t seem to be any outstanding difference in features and the price is not that competitive. Install a traditional product on a laptop and you have data portability. Backup your computer hardware regularly and you have the same degree of data security. I suppose not having to do software upgrades is a plus, but is that really worth an extra $400 a year? If the yearly cost of either Rocket Matter or Clio was equivalent to the cost of a traditional product’s service contract, I’d buy in, but until then I’ll keep looking into a more local solution.