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A Linux Users Group for Professionals?

Posted by Cliff on from the beyond-hobbyism dept.

ir0b0t asks: "I'm a lawyer in a solo divorce practice in Missoula, Montana. I have migrated my office to OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird but want to do more Open Source, yet I have issues that come up nearly every day. The problems I encounter are often unique to running a small law practice. Coders sometimes give me blank looks when I describe what I need. Other lawyers tend to automatically use proprietary solutions and show little interest in Open Source alternatives. I want to eventually use only Open Source code in my office. I am willing to do my homework. Are there others like me out there? Is there a Linux Users Group or other online forum for professionals like me who want more Open Source solutions for our work? Thanks."

11 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. PJ at groklaw might be able to help by grattwood · · Score: 5, Informative

    PJ over at http://groklaw.net/ might be able to help, or point you to peolple who are doing this. I think she is planning a Linux LiveCD for lawyers.

  2. Groklaw by neillewis · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://groklaw.net/ has had some discussion about OSS for lawyers in the past, particularly around WordPerfect import/export issues (WP still having something of a stronghold in legal circles) ... there must be some lawyers out there with the same issues as you, and if there isn't a LawLUG why not start one?

    Good luck.

  3. Not everything can be solved by open source by Alpha27 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Depending on what you do, and what software you need, you can't migrate everything to open source, and that's a fact you have to accept, only if you haven't accepted it yet. I only mention it that way, because you did not.

    The main issues include:

    - a standard application that "everyone" uses, in the industry you are in, is not supported on Linux. ie: mortgage brokers who use a particular set of programs to create and process applications.

    - some industry applications require proprietary software to run. ie: Realtors who use the online MLS listing who need IE to access the website.

    - a bigger issue is learning curve. If I know an application really well, and I'm effective in what I do with it, why should I have to learn a new application?

    - some open source applications can't do all the features as the proprietary application I use. this is a fact in a number of cases. What are you going to do, add the features to the open source version until they are all in there? Unfortunately, that's not always a feasible approach.

    The good news is, there are open source solution for common things, like web browsing, email, group tasks, filesharing and printing, many of the common tasks you can do in an office.

    The easiest transitions you can make is usually on the server side (web server, email, filesharing), the stuff that's pretty transparent to users. Then you can migrate users on the client side, slowly, and with applications where they can gain an advantage on. Transitioning to open source, for the sake of open source is not a reason to do it. As long as you provide enough reason, and suitable solutions, you will have a good chance with users switching.

    1. Re:Not everything can be solved by open source by Master+of+Transhuman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "you can't migrate everything to open source"

      Well, yes, you can.

      The issue is whether a given operation can AFFORD to do so on their own.

      The answer is to get together with others, form an industry OSS group, then get some developers who work in that industry interested in doing the work.

      By the way, let's be clear:

      "Realtors who use the online MLS listing who need IE to access the website."

      No, they DON'T need IE - they need a browser that does EXACTLY the same thing as IE vis-a-vis that site. Not the same thing at all.

      And in that particular case, it probably wouldn't be hard to get the folks at Mozilla to find out exactly what that thing is and provide it - unless of course it's ActiveX - then you need some utility that allows ActiveX to run elsewhere than on IE. The ActiveX plugin available for Firefox is supposedly buggy - well, somebody at Mozilla needs to make it UN-buggy!

      Another option is to use IE either on WINE or a VM to access that site - then use OSS to process the data in every other respect.

      As Charles Bronson said in "The Mechanic": "There are alternatives to everything..."

      Any "standard application" can be reverse- or re-engineered in OSS form, or surrounded by and run in an OSS environment, or otherwise taken out of the picture. You just have to have some imagination and the willingness to invest the effort.

      It's not easy - I'm looking at some crappy Oracle Forms these days I wish could be made to go away - they're insanely complicated and undocumentable. It would be quicker to re-engineer them - IF I had some clear documentation as to how they work in the first place.

      It's crappy design, not proprietary or OSS software, that causes all the problems in IT.

      --
      Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
  4. Look! Look! A Lawyer! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've been advocating for a little shark icon to go next to the Friend/Foe/Subscriber icons so everybody can stop writing 'IANAL, but...' but everytime I bring it up, somebody has to post, "but there aren't any lawyers on Slashdot".

    So, may ir0b0t be the proud first bearer of 'The Shark'.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  5. Spend money and complain by t482 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Honestly one of the best ways to change the situation is to spend money and complain to the developers - open source or not.

    A friend of mine has a company that supports about 8 or 10 law firms. All use more or less amounts of linux (mostly on the backend).

    For example many lawyers use time tracking software such as time matters a time tracking and billing package that is windows based.

    Postgresql is the database in the back end that Time matters supports. The performance is poor compared with MS SQL Server - mostly due to poor coding. What do you do? Call them up and complain.
    It runs mostly under wine on the desktop, or typically we have it run under terminal server.

    I would also have a look at www.osafoundation.org/ which will eventually produce a platform to do something like which you probably want to do. That is, easily customize your contact, scheduler and email system.

    Another solution I've seen firms use in linux is based on Lotus Domino/Notes. Proprietary but runs in Linux. Often you can get 10 licenses bundled if you buy a new or used IBM server.

  6. Debian-lex by philipsblows · · Score: 4, Informative
    Debian-Lex is an internal project to develop Debian into an operating system that is particularly well fit for the requirements for legal offices. The goal of Debian-Lex is a complete system for all tasks in legal practice which is built completely on free software.

    I subscribed to the debian lex mailing list a while ago out of curiosity. I can't say I know much more having subscribed, but perhaps there are some subscribers there with other specific ideas or answers to your question. No guarantees. Oh, IANAL.

    Debian-lex Project Page

    A link to the mailing list archive-- with a couple of messages from this month!-- can be found among other bits of info there.

  7. Money talks... by oliverthered · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There are are a lot of OSS apps out there that may be usefull to your business but be missing a key feature. Why not offer up bounty to get the features that you would like to see implemented, you could even get together with some other law firms and be able to offer a reasonable bounty to get the software you would like (I'm sure a few K won't hurt a law firms wallets too much (-:)

    --
    thank God the internet isn't a human right.
  8. Sincere apologies by jawahar · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Coders sometimes give me blank looks when I describe what I need."

    I'm a programmer by profession. My sincere apologies on behalf of the coders and thank you for using open source software.

    Please contact a near by Linux consultant
    http://www.thelinuxreview.com/ldp/consultants.lxp

    --
    Slashdot = Sarcasm
  9. As a fellow Montanan... by USSJoin · · Score: 5, Informative

    I understand the problem you're going through; let's face it, most people look at you with a blank stare anytime you say *anything* related to computers.

    That said, I worked on the migration of a firm in Billings, MT to OSS. What we found was that there really *is* no replacement for the capstone software, Amicus Attorney, and I couldn't even make it run on Crossover. So we use OpenOffice instead of MS, and Firefox/Thunderbird, but are forced into Windows for one app (usual story). Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the legal field just isn't interested in Linux, *because* the big firms (like the Washington Big 10, for instance) are IP lawyers, so they're *defending* Microsoft etc. Tacky to use the competition, it seems.

    If you have no need for Amicus, then what software, really, do you need? PM me, we can discuss the issue.

  10. Business Forum by OSXCPA · · Score: 4, Informative

    Try this - http://www.smallbizgeeks.com/phpBB2/ They are pretty active and there are good forums, some of which may interest you.