Paul Jacobson

I had an interesting thought experiment a week or two ago when I considered the effect of the recent MacBook range price hike combined with prolonged service and maintenance cycles on individuals and businesses that may be considering or are running on Macs. The new MacBook is gorgeous. It seems to be everything it is advertised to be (although there are already reports about faults but I am sure those will be resolved soon enough). The problem is that Mac prices are becoming prohibitive and the hassle involved in rectifying faults could make Macs too costly to use in a business environment or even in a personal context where you can’t be without a computer for days on end.

When it comes to price the cost of a MacBook has jumped quite a bit. The top of the line black MacBook used to cost around R15 000 (at least that is what I paid for my MacBook a few months ago). The price for the top of the line MacBook is now closer to R20 000. Bear in mind that Apple typically keeps the prices for new models pretty much the same as the models they replace so a price jump of around R5 000 is pretty significant.

I had to take my wife’s MacBook in to have its hard drive replaced (again). I took it to C3 (I won’t take it anywhere else) who frequently find themselves facing long lead times from their suppliers (if there is a drive in stock it will take 3 to 4 days, if not you could be looking at a week or two). This time around they processed warranty claims (my MacBook’s drive was also failing so we ordered a replacement for that too although I could continue working with it) and hit a snag when Apple’s warranty claim processing system crashed and this necessitated a further delay. If this has been my MacBook and I didn’t have an alternative I would have been about a week and a half to 2 weeks without a computer and the ability to do the bulk of my work. That is a serious setback for a small practice like mine.

This whole thing got me thinking about what I would do if I couldn’t have a Mac. If my MacBook explodes in a puff of coloured smoke, my insurers will pay out its value when I bought it and that would put a true replacement out of reach (unless I shell out the extra few grand). Would it be worth my while to source even more cash to cover that extra cost? What else could I rely on?

I suppose one option is to go back to a Windows machine but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. The last time I tried to work with a Windows machine it didn’t go well and I wound up reformatting the machine and loading Ubuntu. From that point the machine served me pretty well. I didn’t have all the software I had become accustomed to on my Mac (and there weren’t many comparable apps available for Ubuntu either) but the laptop I was using worked well for me. Although I was grateful to return to a Mac (in the form of my current MacBook), I left the Ubuntu laptop with a distinct sense that in a world without Mac, I would be an Ubuntu user.

I recently updated to the latest Ubuntu release on my home PC (which presently exists to run my Windows based accounting software). I have partitioned the hard drive and dual boot into Windows and Ubuntu. The latest release seems to be even better than the last and although there are still usability issues (for me at least) compared to my Mac, I can’t think of a better platform for people who don’t have particularly intricate requirements of their PC, certainly not home users and most business users. Big advantages for Ubuntu users include a free and robust operating system and the capability to support older hardware with seemingly better performance than modern hardware running the latest operating systems. In addition, most of the software you would need comes with the install and there are truckloads of more free software available through a greatly simplified software installation system that is part of the OS.

That being said there are a couple reasons I am not exactly rushing to install Ubuntu on my Mac and turn my back on Apple. The big barrier to entry for me is the paucity of Mac class (or available for Linux) software like the OmniGroup’s products, Circus Ponies’ Notebook (which I have returned to in a big way), Adobe Acrobat (the full version), Transmit and so on. The cost, in terms of money and time, of developing an alternate set of workflows could be just as high as coughing up the extra few grand to buy a new and more expensive Mac so at this point it is not an easy thought experiment to process and resolve.

Although derivatives like Ubuntu do make it a lot easier for an average user to use a Linux system, the Linux development community may want to put more effort into dropping the barrier to entry by focussing on things like UI, ease of use and developing a comparable range of software to that found on current Windows and Mac systems. My (limited) sense of the Linux development community is that it has probably spent a little too much time on the fringes and not enough time developing for the mainstream. If that is the case then it is pretty short sighted. Just looking at what Canonical is doing with Ubuntu and specific projects like the Mobile Internet Device edition I can see a time when the Linux platform is in widespread use simply because of its widespread applicability and how it can manifest on a variety of devices while maintaining a high level of interactivity and functionality. Think an Ubuntu laptop working in tandem with an Ubuntu MID rather than the far more limited MacBook/iPod Touch/iPhone pairing. Linux implementations can (and are) bringing powerful functionality to modest hardware today and the potential for more is tremendous but it needs to be a no brainer for us simple people trained on Windows and Mac OS.

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Just days after I decided to upgrade my version of Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard to Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro (for all the cool functionality that is so well suited for legal practice), Adobe has announced Acrobat 9! I wasn’t a big fan of Adobe Acrobat 7 back when I had my PowerBook (it was slow and unstable) and started using it again when I bought my ScanSnap.

It wasn’t until I upgraded to version 8 Pro that I really began to enjoy using it. While version 7 runs through Rosetta on a Mac and can be pretty slow, version 8 runs natively on the Mac and is really rally fast. OCR’ing used to take ages and I can now OCR a decent length document in a fraction of the time. I haven’t even begun to explore the many other tools in Acrobat that will enhance my legal document workflows.

Anyway, I noticed a post on the Acrobat for Legal Professionals blog that Adobe has announced Acrobat 9 in 3 flavours: Standard, Pro and the new Extended versions. Just reading initial impressions stimulated mild nausea:

One thing that blew me away is that Acrobat 9 is F-A-S-T! It launches in one-third the time of previous versions and generally feels a lot snappier in use.

All versions of Acrobat can now play Flash content natively. You can embed Flash movies (SWF and FLV) files and play them right in Acrobat. That means you can embed deposition and audio interviews and know that the recipient can play them with confidence.

The interface looks pretty similar to Acrobat 8 but some of the functionality is very very cool. I really like the improved document comparison feature, PDF Portfolios (a much easier way to handle a variety of documents compared to a workflow involving converting them all to PDF and combining them) and even the improved OCR process. A big attraction for me is Bates numbering because it saves me the hassle of manually numbering documents used in court processes. This feature is available in Acrobat 8 Pro and I haven’t tried it out yet. I do like the way version 9 does it and hope that my version does something similar.

The better Acrobat is the more effective I can be in managing my documents, especially considering that I am slowly moving to a paperless, PDF based document management system in my offices. Acrobat 9 could well represent a new level of efficiency even though I am yet to use Acrobat 8 Pro fully. I noticed that the upgrade cost to Acrobat 9 Pro will be around $159 and $229 to Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. That is not cheap especially after I just spent $189 to upgrade to Acrobat 8 Pro. To an extent I feel like a bit of an ass because if I had waited a week I wouldn’t have upgraded to Acrobat 8 Pro and I would rather have upgraded to Acrobat 9 Pro (or perhaps even the Extended version although I don’t know what the benefits of that would be).

It would be great if Adobe had a similar upgrade policy to Apple’s when there is a new OS. When I bought my first MacBook last year I bought it just as Leopard was released and because I bought it within a certain time period around Leopard’s release, the update from Tiger (which the MacBook shipped with) to Leopard cost me the cost of shipping a DVD to me. I don’t think Adobe has anything like that available. It would be nice if it did though …

By the way. When I first started using Acrobat 8 Pro it had a startup screen which presented me with a couple options like creating a new PDF and a couple other items. I dismissed that panel and can’t work out how to get it back. Anyone have any ideas?

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I thought I would do a post about my office and the various tools I use to do the work I do for anyone who is interested in this stuff. Over the last month or so my office space has transformed being fairly paper dependent and cumbersome to a potentially and largely paperless office. Although I would love to see my office become totally paperless, the way the people I deal with work means that this is probably not going to happen anytime soon so my goal is to reduce the amount of paper I use as much as possible.

My setup about a month and a half ago included a black MacBook (2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 160GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM), a Samsung ML-2010 printer and a Samsung SCX-4720F multi-function printer). I bought the multi-function printer when I started my practice and, at the time, I was using a Windows PC which supports all the functions of the multi-function. When I migrated to my first Mac, a PowerBook G4, in late 2005 I discovered that the only thing I could do with the multi-function if it was connected to a Mac is print to it. The fax function was handled on the machine itself so there weren’t any issues there but I couldn’t scan to my Mac. That particular device (which I believe is no longer being sold) is strictly PC and Linux compatible (although I couldn’t work out how to get Ubuntu to support it).

The core piece of equipment in my office is my black MacBook.

This is the hub and essential tool for all my computer based activities. This isn’t the right place to talk about all the benefits of the Mac operating system and its latest iteration, Leopard, in particular. Suffice to say it leaves Windows in the dust and has as a possible next best option Ubuntu Linux which I used while my MacBook was in for repair and I was waiting for the new one.

Another important tool is 37 Signals’ Basecamp which I have been using as a client extranet and project workspace for some time now. Quite a lot of people use Basecamp and for good reason. It has a great interface and is really easy to use. I subscribe to the $49 Plus option which gives me 10GB of storage space, SSL security and enough projects to manage all my active files and more. I recommend Basecamp for anyone wanting to collaborate on projects and have considered doing it online.

I soon bought the ML-2010 (which is Mac compatible) so I could print directly from my Mac and kept the multi-function connected to the original PC for scanning jobs. I used the multi-function to send faxes and occasionally make copies of documents although I realised that I had better quality reproductions if I scanned the documents first and then printed copies as opposed to making straight photocopies. Incoming faxes come to me via Digifax which I have been using for a couple years now. It is a pretty simple fax to email solution.

The challenges with this setup were largely to due with the incompatibility of the multi-function with my PowerBook and then my MacBook. I had to get up from my desk and go to the PC to scan a document and then save the scan to a shared folder which I would then access from my Mac to retrieve the file. I sometimes found that the scanned files didn’t jive too well with Preview and I sometimes had to work some file format voodoo to sort out the scans. I also had to print documents to be faxed, head over to the multi-function at the PC desk and fax the documents manually. This isn’t an unusual workflow but given my desire to be able to handle faxes entirely digitally, it wasn’t a step in the right direction.

The first step I took towards a new workflow was inspired, in part, by Jason Calacanis who often spoke about how his employees at Mahalo have at least 2 displays at their work stations and often have 3. The reason for this is that this sort of setup improves productivity. I had been thinking along the lines of a second display for a little while already because it would save me having to constantly flip between applications when I work with multiple documents on my Mac. I have been scanning documents and working with them digitally for a little while so this became a problem I wanted to solve so I bought an Acer 22″ LCD monitor (mine had a silver trim) to accompany my Mac. This has already improved my productivity because I can comfortably place two documents side by side on the LCD monitor and work off my MacBook. This saves me a lot of window switching and frustration. I can refer directly to the documents and items I am dealing with without interrupting my flow every few minutes to switch windows.

The LCD is also great for media so I often move iTunes to the LCD and watch videos on the LCD. Another handy use for the LCD is to move Skype, IM and Twhirl onto the LCD so I can keep working on my MacBook and keep an eye on any incoming messages.

My next three purchases were inspired largely by Grant Griffiths, the home office lawyer and guru on mobile legal workers. I have been chatting to Grant for a while now and he has often told me about his setup which includes a scanner called a ScanSnap and a nifty piece of software called PageSender. ScanSnap scanners are really well made sheet fed scanners than can scan straight to PDF. There are versions for the Mac and the PC and Grant told me about how the ScanSnap has become such an invaluable part of his office that he just couldn’t see himself going without one. I had grown pretty frustrated with my scanning workflow using the multi-function through the PC and really wanted a Mac solution (I don’t see the PC being around for much longer). So I saved up and bought a ScanSnap S500M (it looks like the S510M which apparently wasn’t available here). This device is such a cool device I agree with Grant completely that it has become indispensible to my office workflows. For one thing it is really fast. The pages basically just feed through as if I am cycling paper through the machine and I get a double sided colour scan. I can customise the image resolution to suit my needs as well as specifying output folders, automatic file naming and output formats. What really makes this purchase worthwhile is that the scanner comes with Adobe Acrobat (I got version 7 with the ScanSnap for my Mac). This is worth a few thousand rands already. Using Acrobat you have more options for manipulating your PDFs than Preview allows for (although Preview in Leopard is a huge improvement over the Tiger version). I am already considering upgrading Acrobat to version 8 Pro to have the benefit of the additional functionality.

PageSender is a great fax application produced by Smile on my Mac which also produces gems like TextExpander which I use to automate a number of text-based tasks. The MacBook doesn’t ship with a modem so I went out and bought an external fax modem to go with PageSender. Between the ScanSnap and the PageSender/modem solution, I no longer needed the multi-function for the two main tasks I used it for, namely faxing and scanning. The only thing I can’t do with the ScanSnap is scan items that won’t feed through and which I would have used a flatbed scanner for. This isn’t a big issue for me because the ScanSnap will feed just about anything from an A4 page to a boarding pass.

My MacBook’s recent (complete and catastrophic) hard drive failure reminded me about the tremendous importance of good backups and big enough backup drives. Time Machine on Leopard was instrumental in preserving my sanity (it is a good reason to upgrade to Leopard). I wound up buying a new MacBook because I thought it would take a lot longer for the hard drive on my “old” MacBook to be replaced (it was still under warranty) and the new MacBook quickly picked up my Time Machine backup on my LaCie external hard drive and restored just about everything I thought I had lost. I even discovered that I had managed to backup my iTunes and iPhoto libraries! What I found, once I had my new MacBook up and running (it took me more time to reinstall all my apps than it did to restore the backup) I found that my external drive was too small to serve as the Time Machine backup for the new MacBook with its bigger hard drive. I set out to buy a second external drive and bought a Western Digital My Book 750GB USB drive which looks a lot like the one in the photo below:

Along the way I learned that you really should make sure the drive you want to buy is formatted for your machine. I first went with another WD drive that only seemed to be suited for a Windows machine and because it was an ethernet drive without a USB option, I couldn’t access the drive on my Mac and reformat it so I returned it.

By the time I bought this new external drive I had received my old MacBook back (I’ve said it before, C3 in Randburg is probably the best Apple dealer I have come across in terms of price, service and expertise – I won’t use anyone else for anything more substantial than a cable adaptor) and it turned out to be a relatively easy process to re-partition the new drive for the two MacBooks (my wife is using my old one and is thrilled) and share the drive via my USB port on my MacBook. I was advised to partition the drive and create a partition for each Mac that is going to access the drive. Each partition then shows up as a separate drive on my desktop and in Finder. I set my partition on the drive as my new Time Machine backup drive for everything on my Mac and the old LaCie drive has become a secondary backup drive for media and key documents. Time Machine will backup your entire profile by default and this means that when you restore a complete backup you get your user accounts, settings and all your files and folders back pretty easily. It certainly takes the edge off a drive failure and makes the cost of a bigger drive well worth it (not that external drives are that expensive these days). At the end of all this I have around 900GB of storage space, primarily for backups.

Not only has my desk changed a lot in the last month but my workflows have changed quite a bit too. I am donating the multi-function to Hospice and, instead, I now have the following solutions for my needs:

• Basecamp for project collaboration
• 22″ LCD screen for additional screen real-estate
• ScanSnap to handle scanning (including scanning incoming paper documents for paperless archival and faxing)
• PageSender and the external modem for outgoing faxes
• Digifax for incoming faxes via email
• Two external hard drives for complete Time Machine and redundant backups

One important need which I am not filling yet is some sort of power backup for when loadshedding returns and to cater for general power failures. At the moment this isn’t a pressing need but as Merlin Mann put it, you usually don’t realise you need more toilet paper when you are standing in the aisle at your local Woolies/Pick ‘n Pay/Spar.

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I have been pretty quiet on this blog for a couple weeks and the main reason is that my wife and I were expecting a baby and he arrived a full two weeks ahead of schedule.

I am sure I don’t need to point out to those of you who are parents that having a baby tends to turn schedules inside out and our little one’s arrival is no different. It has been an amazing experience and I think I am still getting my mind around the idea that he is here and the whole experience of parenthood.

Anyway, it is taking a little time but I am slowly getting back to a workable schedule that gives me time to attend to all the work I have for my clients and to spend time with my son and wonderful wife.

Thank you to my clients and colleagues for your support. I appreciate it tremendously.

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baby, schedule, childbirth

I was invited to the office warming party for Howes Incorporated, a labour firm started by Deanne Howes about 2 years ago. I first visited Deanne’s new offices a couple months ago and this evening she had a shindig for her clients and colleagues. It was a fun evening and the catering was handled by a company called By Word of Mouth which prepared some really tasty and interesting finger snacks.

I managed to get this funky photo of Deanne during her speech. It came out quite nicely. Anyway, congrats Dee on 2 years. May you have many many more good years to come.

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I just read this post about an associate who got married on the Anonymous Lawyer and had a good laugh. This blog is billed as:

Stories from the trenches, by a fictional hiring partner at a large law firm in a major city

It takes some of the stories you hear in major law firms a little to extremes although sometimes not so much. Some of these stories sound a lot like stories I hear from some friends who are working in corporate law firms. Funny to read on a blog like this and not so funny to hear about in real life.

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law firm, anonymous lawyer, parody, corporate law firms

I have just created a Jaiku channel for legal content I publish and share across this blog, Legally Content (my podcast) and the Open Law Project. The majority of the content published to the channel will come from this blog. The idea behind the channel is to facilitate an additional content channel for people who use Jaiku or who are interested in trying it out. It is totally free and all you need to access the channel is an account on Jaiku.

If you don’t know what Jaiku is, take a look here and here. In short, Jaiku is a microblogging service where you can publish posts of up to 140 characters at a time. Jaiku is particularly handy because it allows for comments (which don’t have the 140 character limit) and there is a mobile application with presence functionality (that means you have an application which can run on many mobile phones which can pick up other Jaiku users around you and also give feedback where you are, depending on your preferences). Another benefit of Jaiku is that it enables you to aggregate your various feeds.

When it comes to Jaiku channels I love the idea of being able to aggregate my legal content in one place and open up a channel for people who use Jaiku and who may want to give feedback on a content item that is posted to the channel or just receive updates on what I am posting about law in one place.

There are a few ways you can keep up to date on what is going on in the channel. One way is to subscribe to the channel once you have joined Jaiku and you will be able to see new posts and comments. Another way is to visit the Jacobson Attorneys blog as well as the Legally Content and Open Law Project blogs (I’ll add the sidebar widget shortly) and view the updates there. There is also a feed which you can subscribe to. As I said, there are a couple ways you can keep up to date so give it a try and let me know what you think?

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