Re:Microsoft Word, RIP: 1983 - 2009
by grellas on Monday August 03, 2009 @02:15PM
(#739767)
In the law office environment, Word fulfills at least the following functions:
1) It avoids incompatibility issues in document formatting (i.e., you know that, if you created it in Word, others in your own office and elsewhere will be able to open, use, modify, and save it without any problems - a critical item as documents are exchanged among different parties in a variety of ways in such an environment).
2) It fits in with document-management systems that allow you to create and store your documents, in all their different versions, on local servers that you control and with which you can preserve the confidentiality of client documents.
3) It provides a baseline for determining that new employees will be efficient in their word processing skills (i.e., they must have a minimum set of skills that includes being able to work efficiently in Word).
4) It does all the things the you point out in your items 1-4 (particularly your observations about being bound to the idea of the "page").
Any substitute for Word would need to leave me capable of interacting with clients, staff, fellow workers, opposing attorneys, courts, government agencies, etc. in this same seamless manner without incompatibilities while using the "page" model through which we all are accustomed to relating to one another.
Call it the pull of the legacy, but it is an overwhelming pull. Everything else is bleeding edge from the standpoint of having to run a real business in the current environment.
This does not mean it can never change, but it will not change based merely on an idealized set of ideas of how it can be done better or on something that might work in one environment but does not port well into the standard office.
1) It avoids incompatibility issues in document formatting (i.e., you know that, if you created it in Word, others in your own office and elsewhere will be able to open, use, modify, and save it without any problems - a critical item as documents are exchanged among different parties in a variety of ways in such an environment).
2) It fits in with document-management systems that allow you to create and store your documents, in all their different versions, on local servers that you control and with which you can preserve the confidentiality of client documents.
3) It provides a baseline for determining that new employees will be efficient in their word processing skills (i.e., they must have a minimum set of skills that includes being able to work efficiently in Word).
4) It does all the things the you point out in your items 1-4 (particularly your observations about being bound to the idea of the "page").
Any substitute for Word would need to leave me capable of interacting with clients, staff, fellow workers, opposing attorneys, courts, government agencies, etc. in this same seamless manner without incompatibilities while using the "page" model through which we all are accustomed to relating to one another.
Call it the pull of the legacy, but it is an overwhelming pull. Everything else is bleeding edge from the standpoint of having to run a real business in the current environment.
This does not mean it can never change, but it will not change based merely on an idealized set of ideas of how it can be done better or on something that might work in one environment but does not port well into the standard office.