Internet Newsletter for Lawyers
January/February 2006, by Delia Venables

I decided to buy an Apple Mac almost two years ago. I gave myself three months to get used to using it, as we all know how difficult it was to move from WordPerfect to Microsoft Word (or it was for me, anyway). As it happened, the Apple Mac was so easy to use, I grasped how to make my way around the software within a matter of two or three weeks. It was not as painful to learn as I originally anticipated.

What of my personal experience?

I have found:

• I have Microsoft word, PowerPoint, entourage and explorer on my system, and they all work reasonably well.

• Occasionally a Microsoft product will disappear completely when working on a document, but I no longer panic. All you do is go back into the application that has closed, and the document you were working on appears – fully recovered from the moment the application closed for no apparent reason.

• I retained my personal computer, and have a router that enables me to swap files between the personal computer and the Apple Mac. The router also acts as a firewall of sorts to the internet. I have retained the personal computer for two reasons: first, I have the electronic version of the Oxford English Dictionary, and it will not work on a UNIX operating system. Second, the Apple Mac software that drives my HP printer prevents me from printing on both sides, and will not permit me to print if the cartridge is getting empty. By contrast, the software that drives the printer on the personal computer permits me to print on both sides and will continue printing well beyond the so-called empty warning issued by the software.

• Wireless networking is far easier, as mentioned by Robert, but I do not use wi-fi because of the security problems. I also consider it is wasteful to use batteries in the mouse, for instance, because they are not good for the environment.

• As mentioned by Robert, the personal computer and Apple Mac are compatible, although I have to increase the size of the text in word documents to 150% to view text more easily.

• I have three internet options: firefox, explorer and safari, the Apple Mac internet browser. It is useful to have all three, because many web sites are not configured for safari.

Why did I buy an Apple Mac?

I have a friend in our village that uses personal computers to play games, and Apple Macs for his profession: he is a photographer. He tried for many years to persuade me that Apple Macs were far better, mainly because they rarely suffered from virus attacks. This is because there are relatively few of them in use in proportion to personal computers. This means hackers are not too bothered to write viruses for Apple Macs.

I bought my first Apple Mac because of my concern for security. I wanted to feel slightly more secure that I would not be an easy target for an unpleasant virus that might cause my client files to be exposed to the world. Anti-virus software is, of course, a necessary perquisite for any user of a computer, but you never know if you might be hit by a virus that is so new that your anti-virus vendor has not had the opportunity to tackle it. I accept this argument works for both personal computers and Apple Macs, but the number of viruses in my virus definition on my Apple Mac is tiny in proportion to the virus definitions for my personal computer. I did have a virus in one my files recently. The file was received from a most respectable legal source. Fortunately, it did not affect my system because it was a virus for Microsoft Word, and it had no effect on the Apple system at all.

From the point of view of business continuity or disaster recovery, I also have a separate hard drive, and back up all my files and e-mails to the separate hard drive at the end of each week. I then keep the hard drive and the computer (a laptop – I work from home in the main) in separate places, both hidden from prowling burglars. I leave the personal computer on my desk, in the hope that if I was ever burgled, that is all they would obtain.

I am so satisfied with my Apple Mac, that I bought another one last year – the smallest version. I use this to travel with. I recommend the transfer from personal computer and echo Robert’s conclusions.

Stephen Mason is a barrister and an expert in authentication and identity as it affects our use of information technology.
He is General Editor of the e-Signature Law Journal and Director of the Data Protection Research & Policy Group at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
email stephenmason@stephenmason.co.uk.

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