Law Firm Conversion to Windows 7 Is Inevitable

a sluggish operating system that had some hefty system requirements and didn't always play so then with other software -- nevertheless for most lawyers it was a nonissue. They, and their firms, happily stuck with Microsoft's before operating system, Windows XP. And why not? XP was proven, worked fine, and was regularly updated with all the security patches and bug fixes anyone needed. If it ain't broken, don't fix it, and all that.

But Microsoft, it turns out, has done some fixing. It took a hard look at Vista, figured out what worked and what didn't, tossed or tweaked the latter, and created Windows 7. This operating system has gotten good reviews and developed a solid reputation in corporate circles. Law firm CIOs and managers took notice, too, and started wondering if they should make the move. They didn't have to wonder for long. Microsoft has made the decision easy by announcing it will end all support for XP in April 2014. No more security patches. No more bug fixes. The stay-with-XP strategy had a good run, now time's up.

What does this mean for firms?

What does this mean for firms? For starters, firms will need to undergo a surprisingly long and complicated transition from XP to Windows 7 -- one that will require a lot of careful planning and execution to get right. It's a transition that will involve a fair amount of user training, particularly at firms that upgrade their Microsoft Office suite together. Come to think of it, the research market innovation firm Gartner, estimates that the job will typically take 15 to 18 months, although some firms say they can safely do the job in a little less than a year. Much of the migration period will be prep work that will be invisible to lawyers. This is the testing and tweaking to make sure all of the firm's applications work with Windows 7 and its new version of the Internet Explorer web browser.

At Latham & Watkins, moving the firm's 5,000 PCs to Windows 7 and Office 2010 is expected to take 11 months -- "lightning speed," according to Latham CIO Kenneth Heaps. At Latham, the test period will be divided into several discrete stages. First up: a preview phase where a group of about 15 people within the innovation department will test PCs loaded with the new operating system and the firm's core applications. "We want to see what our significant issues are [and] tweak stuff," Heaps says. At once is what Heaps calls the "Beta 1" stage: more software will be loaded, including the special-purpose applications used by various practice groups; more testers will be added, including support and engineering staff; more tweaks will be made. Afterwards this comes "Beta 2," which expands testing beyond the IT department to a small community of users. By this point, Windows 7 will have been tested with everything that will need to run pursuant to this agreement it, including litigation support services, and the firm's financial systems.

Actually putting the software on thousands of PCs will only take about two weeks, says Heaps. What will take up the bulk of the time is the training -- not so much for Windows 7 however for the new version of Microsoft Office. This scenario won't be in a class by itself to Latham. Most firms will be upgrading to Office 2007 or Office 2010 together they're switching to Windows 7. Office 2007 and Office 2010 both feature a user interface that's dramatically different from previously releases, and it's going to be vital for users to understand the changes.

The clock ticking on XP support

Between the clock ticking on XP support and the long lead time needed for a Windows 7 rollout, there is truly a sense of urgency to the migration. Now managing partners shouldn't storm the tech department if they see other firms adopting Windows 7 previously them. The timing isn't always within a firm's control.

That's because firms need reassurance from their key software vendors -- a certification, a promise of support and compatibility, or something they can bank on that their programs will work with Windows 7. Tweaks are one thing, nevertheless no firm wants to be reengineering mission-critical applications. If a vendor can't offer that reassurance, firms can look for a suitable alternative -- if there even is one. Or they can wait. This isn't an unlikely scenario: During Windows 7 has been on the market for more than a year, not every application has been given the green light. Come to think of it, only in November did Latham get reassurance for two of its major software tools -- Autonomy iManage for document management and Workshare for document collaboration.

Another reason firms may wait to install Windows 7 is so they can minimize disruptions. If they are planning any other major software upgrades in the nearly future, it may make sense to do them and the Windows changeover simultaneously. "You don't want to roll out a new image and at the time have to put on something else," says David Michel, chief information officer at Burr & Forman, which plans to move to Windows 7 nevertheless is as well looking at updating or replacing its document management system.

Saying hello to Windows 7 may as well mean saying goodbye to other software programs. Chances are they are programs that firms no longer have much use for. Their retirement will save the firm time and money.

Before migrating to Windows 7, firms will be taking a comprehensive inventory of the software they use. This will let them make sure that all programs are checked for Windows 7 compatibility and support. Now it as well gives firms an possibility to see what they are using and how they are using it. If something is rarely used or outdated, or if it does the same thing that another program does, perhaps it can be tossed. That saves on licensing fees, as then as the time, effort, and expense of supporting that product.

Windows 7 itself will help to lengthen the list, since it includes features -- just as the ability to encrypt USB drives and other removable media -- that earlier were available only through add-on products. Replacing third-party software with Windows's native functionality means fewer applications to maintain -- and pay for. It can as well give users a tool that works better with Windows, since it's of Microsoft's own design. "When you buy a Ford, you want a Ford engine in it," says Heaps. "Other products can work so then, nevertheless a lot of them introduce complexity and reduce stability."

Since Windows 7 is a leaner, more performance-focused operating system than Vista, it doesn't require particularly turbocharged hardware. That might disappoint lawyers who were hoping to come out of the migration with a flashy new PC to go with the new software. Now it's good news for firms that stretched their PC replacement cycle a bit while the recession.

The hardware we have nevertheless -- 2

"[Windows 7] is working in effect well on the hardware we have nevertheless" -- 2.13 gigahertz Intel Core 2 processors with 2 gigabytes of RAM, says Frank Spadafino, chief information officer at Epstein Becker & Green. Epstein is currently in a pilot phase and plans to roll out Windows 7 while the first quarter of 2011. The firm, he says, before replaced its PCs every three to four years, nevertheless is keeping its current equipment for five years, and replacing its desktops in 2012. Epstein did, on the whole, have to replace some of its laptops -- about 25 percent of the firm's inventory. "The older ones, four-to-five-years old, won't run 64-bit Windows 7, which is the version we're rolling out," Spadafino says.

Microsoft's minimum system requirements for the 64-bit version of Windows 7 are 2 gigabytes of RAM and a 1 gigahertz processor, fairly run-of-the-mill specs today. Savvy firms will go beyond the minimums, yet won't go crazy. "You need to find the sweet spot, where you're getting the best performance for the best dollar," says Heaps.

A final point that firm innovation managers are keeping in mind about Windows 7 goes to the much-touted "XP Mode." This is a licensed, full-featured copy of Windows XP that operates within Windows 7. The idea is simple: backward compatibility. "If something doesn't run in Windows 7, you can run it here," says Michel of Burr & Forman. That's important for law firms, in particular, he says, because they tend to use a lot of custom-created applications -- software, for instance, that lets them assemble new documents from old documents. "Trying to redo them all for Windows 7 [would be] hard and expensive," Michel says.

But as you might expect, there'll be a cost, as time goes by, for this reassurance: Software will typically run slower, at times much slower, in XP Mode than it would in Windows 7. Can the feature be a lifesaver? Sure. Nevertheless like a fine old bottle of wine, XP Mode is going to be something to break out on special occasions, yet not on an day in day out basis.