Technology

Why Your Office Should Care About Upgrading To Windows 10

On top of having some logistical benefits, Windows 10 looks to be a great operating system, according to legal technology columnist Jeff Bennion.

By  
on

By now, you’ve probably realized that you have a little Windows icon in your notification area that gives you information about upgrading to Windows 10.

That icon gives you the following information:

Which, of course, is not a lot of information. So, maybe some of you Googled (or Binged?) “Windows 10” and found the Windows YouTube channel that has the following video that came out yesterday explaining the features of Windows 10:

DISCLAIMER: that video is best watched with the volume off if you are prone to seizures. In fact, it’s best watched with the volume off and the screen minimized. Here are some screen shots from the video that is supposed to teach us what Windows 10 will bring to us:

Sponsored

Now, we have less information than before and we are 1:15 older. Basically, the video tells you that Windows 10 lets you do things like search for files, tweet, play games, and do computer stuff.

So, allow me to pick up the slack a little and actually explain to you why you should care and if this is something that you might want to implement in your office.

Sponsored

Actual Information About Windows 10

First, the question is not whether you should upgrade to Windows 10, but rather when you should upgrade to Windows 10 because it is the last version of Windows they are going to make. So, you can either switch to Mac, switch to Linux, or at some point in your life, upgrade to Windows 10. Here’s why that is fantastic, especially for big law firms.

What It Means For Upgrades

I’ve written before about the clumsiness of upgrading things in big law firms. That is mainly because you have a lot of pieces to move and everything has to be compatible with everything before things can be upgraded. The firm can’t move to Windows 7 yet if there are no Windows 7 drivers for half of your printers. Likewise, if you are running Windows 7 at your law firm (and according to page 21 of this survey, 97% of you are), if your computer breaks, you have to go out of your way to purchase a computer that has the old operating system on it. With one unified operating system, the questions “Which version of Windows are you running?” and “Is that version compatible with X?” are going to be things of the past and offices will be able to upgrade and switch out parts more easily.

What It Means For Mobile Devices

The new Windows platform is also meant to be a unifying platform across phones and tablets. According to this site, Windows phones only make up about 5% of the market. It is a fine concept though to have your phone and your computer speak the same language if one is going to be an extension of the other. So, the concept of having a Microsoft phone is sound, but the biggest problem is that there is just no app support for it. In fact, in the last year, Microsoft announced Office apps for iOS and Android with the Windows phone app to come soon. Naturally, Windows phone owners were not happy. With a unifying platform, we will see more developers working on Windows tablet and phone apps, which will make Windows a more competitive mobile device, which will mean capitalism will force Apple and Google to run harder and everyone will benefit, even the vast majority of us who do not have a Windows phone, yet.

What It Means For Your Office

On top of having some logistical benefits, Windows 10 looks to be a great operating system. I have used it a bit and it seems to be streamlined and have a bunch of features that people want, like running Windows programs in windows on your desktop, instead of having full screen apps and no task bar. Cortana is a Siri-like personal assistant. It will be integrated into Windows 10, and will be available for iOS, Android, and Windows phones. With Cortana, you have contextual reminders. So, say you enter in your anniversary into your calendar, and the night before your anniversary, you drive by a flower shop. Cortana knows it’s your anniversary, and knows that there is a flower shop nearby and could remind you to pick up flowers. Now, you will be able to get the benefits of the Windows personal assistant regardless of which phone you have.

Jeff Bennion is Of Counsel at Estey & Bomberger LLP, a plaintiffs’ law firm specializing in mass torts and catastrophic injuries. Although he serves on the Executive Committee for the State Bar of California’s Law Practice Management and Technology section, the thoughts and opinions in this column are his own and are not made on behalf of the State Bar of California. Follow him on Twitter here or on Facebook here, or contact him by e-mail at jeff@trial.technology.

CRM Banner

Topics

, , , , ,