Should You Consider the Surface Go?

Earlier this year, Microsoft came out with a miniature version of its workhorse Surface Pro. The smaller version, called the Surface Go has a 10 inch display with a 1800 x 1200 display ratio and comes in various configurations and memory. Just like the Pro, you have to pay extra for the keyboard and pen that goes with it.

But it’s substantially cheaper (starting at $399 v.  $799 for the Pro at Microsoft, lower elsewhere) which may make it a tempting last minute gift for a lawyer. But based on my experience, I don’t think this is the device for most lawyers. (Perhaps signaling that this is not a business machine, Microsoft sells the device with the Windows 10 Home package in Safe mode. You can and I did configure it with Office and removed the Safe mode, which is no big deal to do).

Certainly, the Go’s smaller size and weight ( 1.15 lbs v. 1.7 lbs) make it more portable and easier to lug around; Microsoft touts it as “our smallest and lightest Surface yet”. And its pretty cool looking especially with the Burgundy keyboard. Perhaps suggesting a professional use of the Go,  the Law School Admission Council  recently announced it would allow the Go to be used in taking the LSAT, suggesting it might indeed be great gift idea for lawyers and even law students.

But I purchased one of these devices some months ago, gave it a try and was disappointed. First, for several years I used a Surface Pro, which is a really nice device for most things lawyers want to do (given that it’s a Windows based device with a few software quirks that most of us are used to with Microsoft). It ran well, did most of what I wanted it to do quickly, had lots of storage and was durable as hell. A real workhorse.

The Go I purchased had more storage than the entry model: 8 GB Ram and 128 GB storage capacity. I got this bigger size since I thought the standard size would not be able to do what I needed. That of course cost me extra and got me much closer to an entry Pro price point. And while this configuration marginally did what I needed, I’m not sure it would for lawyers that have more document intensive matters. Certainly the entry one would not.

My crtitcism of the Go is exactly what makes it a smaller sized tablet.

My crtitcism of the Go is exactly what makes it a smaller sized tablet. The screen doesn’t have the resolution of the Pro and is just too small for intensive work. I almost felt I was working with a toy reproduction of the Pro. And the keyboard was too small for lots of long and intensive work. My fingers kept getting all tangled up and I regularly missed keys. It was pretty frustrating.

With the advent of larger sized phones, its hard to see the need for a tablet just a slight size bigger than these phones that gives you few advantages over them.

In many ways,  it resembled a iPad mini: a nice really portable unit that’s good for reading emails and surfing the net but just not fit for real hard lawyer work. And unlike the mini, the screen resolution was not as good and the price was a little higher. With the advent of larger sized phones  (Apple Xs and Samsung Note 9 for example), its hard to see the need for a tablet just a slight size bigger than these phones that gives you few advantages over them.

But what about for students? Here I think the Go perhaps does have some advantages. Its smaller size it easier to carry and the Go’s  note taking feature is pretty good particularly in the smaller size. But again, at this price point, I am still not sure but that there are better option available.

So there you have it. The Go is a nice fun little tablet. But it’s not a Pro and you shouldn’t t expect it to. Probably not for working stiff lawyers.

I’m in the process of reading Tim Harford’s 2017 book Fifty Inventions That Shaped the World. The book seeks to identify and discuss the impact of various “inventions” including not only things but processes as well. Tim not only talks about the inventions themselves but the ripple effect of them to society as a whole. Of course, that’s a bit of an obvious tact (that Tim does well) which others have done. But Tim also talks at length about one other good point that particularly resonated with me: some inventions don’t take hold when they are created but only later when conditions become right and obstacles inherent in the old method of doing things pre-invention are overcome. I thought about this theory in light of the slow take of the legal field of technology and innovation. Continue Reading Stream Dynamos. Wooden Pallets. Cash Registers. And Law?

I recently almost didn’t attend a Conference in my hometown. I almost didn’t go because a) it was not necessarily in my field (lawyer) and b) it was in my hometown (no one is a prophet in their own land, right?). (The Conferance was actually put on by the Louisville Digital Association, a local organization that’s more or less about all things digital and the Conference was really more about digital marketing and media than anything else).

 

But I did go and something remarkable happened…I learned things. New things. And my head immediately started applying the things I was learning to my field. It was magical. Even one of the speakers who I introduced myself too afterwards said “I saw you sitting there. Your head was going a hundred miles an hour. What energy you brought!”

 

So often we do a benefit cost analysis on things we don’t know enough about to fairly assess

And it was true. So often we do a benefit cost analysis on things we don’t know enough about to fairly assess. We think: well that might be interesting but then again it might not be. Or that would be interesting but I really don’t necessarily see how it applies to me or my profession. The ROI is not clear. It’s a boondoggle and a waste. Quickly we revert to risk aversion and decide its not worth it. And organizations and bureaucracies are particularly adept at learn killing.But the strange thing is we can’t know the future value of something when we make the assessment. As Steve Jobs put it, you can only connect the dots looking backward. If Jobs had said to himself, you know that calligraphy course looks really interesting but I’m now sure it will help me with my major and it might be boring so I won’t go, we might never have had Apple. If Mark Zuckerberg had said it would really be fun and interesting to do the Facebook but I can’t really see the ROI, we might not have Facebook.

Learning is a funny thing. We have it in our heads it is something we do when we are young and in school. We mouth cliches like “life long learner” but then dismiss the value by in practice downplaying that espoused value. But its through learning that energy and passion come, from energy and passion come ideas and application, from ideas and application come innovation. I think this may be why the so called young digital natives seem more adapt at things like technology. It’s not that they know more necessarily, its that they are willing, excited learners. They take risks.

Learning, particularly life long learning, involves taking a risk with our time and treasure

 

And make no mistake, by its very nature, learning, particularly life long learning, involves taking a risk with our time and treasure. We don’t want to take the risk that learning something new will create no value and waste our time. But I don’t think that’s every really totally true. All learning is good—and risky. But if my life experience has thought me one thing it is that while learning new things may not pay off now, it will someday and often in ways we often can’t even imagine. Some of the best ideas I ever had came from unexpected sources while being exposed to new things. Not to mention the fact that learning new things is exciting, inspiring and often just plain fun.

So go to conferences. Stretch. Get out of your field and comfort zone. Learn something new. Apply and innovate. Get excited. I almost didn’t go…. but I did. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Photo Attribution: Denise Krebs via Flickr

 

 

Last month I attended the annual New York Advisen Cyber Security Conference. The event which this year had over 900 attendees is frequented by insurance representatives, brokers, risk managers and, yes, a handful of lawyers, all of whom work in the cyber and cyber insurance space. Its probably the premier conference of its kind.

It’s funny. I’ve been attending this conference for about 5 years. When I first started coming, the conferance was all about sales, marketing and underwriting. I remember sitting at a table my first year having lunch with a handful of 20 something underwriters who were gushing over their new insurance product called cyber insurance. They trumpeted the freedoms the lack of forms provided and how they could even make up policy language as they went along. When I spoke up and said what about future claims, it was as if I was speaking in a foreign language: they were completely baffled. Continue Reading Advisen Cyber Conference 2018: Privacy and Insurance On A Collision Course?

The Best Lawyer You Can Be. A Guide to Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Wellness By Stewart Levine

 

Stewart Levine’s new book reminds of the Whole Earth Catalogue written a number of years ago by another Stewart-Stewart Brand. For those too young to remember, the Whole Earth Catalogue  was magazine and product catalog published several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. While it was directed mainly to a non mainstream, sort of countercultural audience, it did contain all sorts of product information, how to instructions and  other valuable information. The goal of the Catalogue was to introduce those who were interested to some unique tools and information on topics not well addressed other places. Its theme was “access to tools” and that’s by and large what it delivered. Continue Reading A Whole Earth Catalogue for Lawyer Wellness

Today was yet another big Apple Event to announce new products. This one was held interesting enough in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Academy of Music instead of in California which is where Apple typically holds it announcements. The show opened with a short video ironically extolling New York (“ I happen to like New York”) instead of Brooklyn; I assume Apple does know the difference. In any event, the video was pretty well made and definitely one of the cooler things Apple has done recently.

Continue Reading Today’s Apple New Product Announcements: What’s In It For Us Lawyers?

I read with interest Bob Ambrogi’s recent post  on the lack of change in the legal industry. Bob’s view is that while many of us talk and talk about the great changes in store for the legal profession that will move us forward, nothing seems to happen. It’s as if we are housed in a giant echo chamber.

My own view is that until the clients demand change, us outside lawyers ain’t gonna.

Continue Reading If I Were King: Five Things I Would Demand of My Lawyers

Today, Google held its #madebygoogle event in New York City and announced 3 new products. While none of these were particularly surprising since they had all been rumored for some time (some tech writers had already been sent some products to review), the announcement was still interesting. And while all three of the new products are primarily designed for home and general customer use, I can see some useful applications for us lawyers.

Continue Reading Made By Google: What’s In It For Lawyers

Sometime ago, I read an article about a former biglaw litigator, Kathleen Dooley, who left biglaw to go in-house for Hu-manity.co. Hu-manity.co is dedicated to enabling individuals to claim legal ownership of their inherent human data as property (i.e., doing good for the world).

Since I, too, was a former biglaw litigator who recently left for something else, I reached out to her to see what prompted her to make the change and how she went about it. I found her to be a fascinating person who gave her change process a lot of thought. Here is my interview of her in which she candidly talks about her change, what she’s doing now and the state of women in law. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did doing it.

Continue Reading Kathleen Dooley: Her Journey From BigLaw to Doing Good and More

I listen to a lot of podcasts when, as in the past, I was driving to and from my law office: now, since my office is just a couple of steps down the hall from the kitchen and I have no commute, I listen while I am exercising. Some of my usual podcasts are good and some average but every now and then, I get one that really makes me see things in a new light and inspires me to do something. Such was the case with the most recent podcast of Dennis Kennedy and Tom Miguel on the Law Technology Today blog entitled Disruptive Innovation in a Law Practice.

Continue Reading Forget Disrupting Law. Disrupt Yourself