The first incarnations of Google Apps were rudimentary and rugged, mainly a system for handling email, calendaring and drafting basic documents. Google Apps for Business is Google’s cloud office system introduced in about 2008. There are, however, many reasons why one program may suit your office better than the other. Microsoft Office has always been the “gold standard,” but it faces strong competition in the cloud from Google, with Google Drive and Google Apps for Business (as well as on the desktop with open-source office suites such as Apache OpenOffice, or LibreOffice, developed by The Document Foundation). The old adage of “you get what you pay for” is something that most lawyers understand, and it applies when comparing cloud productivity software. Related How To Do Cloud Computing Due Diligenceįor those offices that are thinking of switching to word processing in the cloud, deciding whether to use Microsoft Office 365 or Google Apps can be a mind-boggling decision. The future may be arriving, but it still presents a complex web of choices. My advice, however, is just the starting point: I strongly encourage attorneys to dig deeper, research further, consult with their colleagues and satisfy themselves that cloud computing makes sense - from all angles - for their practice. In the sidebars accompanying this article, I’ve described some of the ethical considerations involved in cloud computing, and I offer a few recommendations for choosing and contracting with cloud-based file storage providers. Taking your practice to the next “cloud” level, however, is not a decision most practitioners undertake lightly, and it demands thoughtful consideration of the practical, financial, technological, contractual and ethical issues. But does that mean it’s the right choice for you? Most small law firms choose Google Apps and Office 365 for lawyers. Office 365 for lawyers is a popular choice because it’s such broadly-used software. You are probably already using some form of cloud computing on a daily basis any web-based email service is considered cloud computing, and online legal research tools like Westlaw and LexisNexis are really the original SaaS software delivering legal research via the web. An easy-to-understand definition of cloud computing (or Software as a Service, “SaaS”) is software that you access online via a web browser (like Internet Explorer or Chrome) rather than installing it directly onto your computer. The term “cloud computing” is generally used to describe a system of managing information that is not dependent upon any one computing device. ![]() When evaluating software choices like Google Apps or Office 365 for lawyers, there’s a lot to consider. “Office Productivity Software in the Cloud” by Dee Crocker was originally published in the October 2014 edition of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |