In enterprise IT circles, there is a well-knownand oft-debatedsaying about Microsoft Corporation’s Windows operating systems: Skip every other version. Intentionally or not, law firms have generally followed that advice. Most embraced Windows XP, passed on the much-maligned Windows Vista, and upgraded to Windows 7, which gets high marks. It’s a pattern that would seem to doom Microsoft’s latest OS, Windows 8, which hit the market last October. In fact, The American Lawyer‘s 2012 survey of law firm technology departments, which was conducted before Windows 8 was released, found that just 7 percent of respondents said they planned to upgrade within a year ["Both Sides Now," November 2012].
Windows 8 ushers in a radically new user interface, featuring touch-activated tiles and eliminating the familiar Start button. That has sparked concerns. Will Windows 8 require too much training, too much adjustment in the way lawyers work? Will there be enough new benefits to make the switch worthwhile? There is the obvious question, too: If Windows 7 works so well, why rock the boat? Looking at the survey result, one might conclude that firms had already come up with their answer, and decided to sit this one out.
