Microsoft still has an influence on the legal market

Microsoft has announced that it will be making some changes to the Windows 8 operating system that arrived last year. Those changes appear to be largely driven by two key factors. One is a potential lack of sales - although Microsoft is dressing this particular ?aspect up as a success - and the second is ?customer feedback.

The latter comes as a bit of a surprise, as Microsoft are not always quick to react to consumer feedback, and when they decide to take a different direction with their software, they normally stick by it, at least for some time.

Windows 8 has been a success on one level though, that of Microsoft's penetration into the mobile phone market. For a few years, Windows mobiles were a rare beast, and the devices were seemingly random efforts by manufacturers operating independently. Microsoft took few chances with Windows 8 mobile phones by buying part of Nokia, and thus giving it control over the hardware platform. Having used a Windows 8 phone for a few months now, I would say that they have done a good job. It is mostly intuitive, works well with many applications, and is reliable enough. The handsets are much cheaper than iPhones or the latest Blackberry, and the battery life is also quite impressive.

It's when you pick up a Windows 8 laptop that the problems become more obvious. Apple has learned that its mobile phone and tablet operating system can be identical, but the laptop and desktop operating system needs to work differently, and as a result, they work differently. In trying to make everything work the same, Microsoft have misinterpreted modern design, and left users of laptops and desktops with a system that is too different from the last incarnation, and with few benefits to garner once you have worked it out. One of the issues with the system, apart from the radically different user interface, is that it is an operating system that is designed for, and works well on touch screen devices. However many devices are still not touch screen enabled, and users of these are instantly hamstrung by the lack of intuitive control

Of course Microsoft have made it fairly clear that they are trying to push their software delivery into the cloud, which means less emphasis on the device operating system, but as they have found out, non-cloud based software is still important, and users are voting with their feet. Hence the revenue shorftfall.

The update for the operating system brings back the start button, i.e. the one from which most functions were controlled. While it is good that Microsoft are responding to users in this way, it does make one wonder how the designers managed to convince senior executives that removing it was the way forward. In some senses it is also gratifying to know that even the largest and most experienced companies can make mistakes, but you do have to worry about their ability to compete if they continue to do so.

The Surface tablet also uses Windows 8, and to much better effect than its laptop siblings. This is the natural environment for the operating system, but again, sales are not all that high, and certainly short of expectations. This is possibly due to the price of the device, being very close to the price of Apple's iPad, but significantly higher than many android devices. It may also be partly down to the slightly limited functions and features of the device.

The lack of features and functions are to be addressed any day soon with a Surface Pro device. This looks identical to the current Windows Surface device but is a little thicker and heavier, and sports much faster processing power inside. This improvement in power enables the device to run a full version of the Microsoft Office application suite, and just as importantly, pretty much any program that will run on Windows 8.

For lawyers, a tablet device that can operate all of the software that is normally available on the desktop is a very logical step forward. iPads are nice, but the lack of full on editing, or access to other software resources can be very limiting. Of course there is a drawback or two with the pro version, being that it is not here yet, and there is still no news on pricing.

The device, when it does eventually ?grace us with its presence, does have ?a couple of advantages over other tablets beyond the incumbent windows operating system. Firstly it sports a full USB 3.0 slot, so attaching peripheral devices should be straightforward. Secondly, it has a micro SD card slot, so the storage capacity can be expanded by significant amounts.

From what I have read, the pricing is likely to be around the £600-700 mark, which makes it a little expensive for ?a tablet, but not desperately so. Law firms that operate budgeted bring your own device (BYOD) schemes would be perfectly placed to add them to the mix of devices without too much additional administrative burden. And for the first time we could see lawyers comfortably using a tablet for all ?their work.

I am looking forward to Microsoft delivering the Surface Pro, and at the same time looking forward to the Windows 8 changes. Microsoft still has a huge footprint in the legal market, and it looks like it wants to protect that as much as possible.