Kiesel's Theory of Computer Relativity
by Paul R. Kiesel

Beware! For every action with your computer, such as adding a new piece of software, there is an equal, unwanted and unintended reaction. Call it Kiesel's theory of computer relativity. You know it's true. You want to add that one piece of nifty looking software that will allow you to, I don't know, play the 18th hole at Pebble Beach or add a new copier, scanner, printer to your computer network. How many times did I just want to add that one component, which, in the end, took my system down for hours?

The worst of it is the obsession with which I, and perhaps you, approach these glitches. I simply cannot walk away from the computer until it's resolved. I've spent hours on hold listening to really bad music, I've ignored the impassioned plea of the recorded voice, urging me to leave a message so the first available technician can "call me back." I'm sure I thought just as you did ... "what do you mean, the first available technician? There will never be an available technician, they're talking to the ones who had the will power to hang in there!" My children calling "Dad, when can you come out and play?" My wife asking "Paul, when are you coming to bed?" The response is always the same. "As soon as I figure this out." This usually means my kids play by them- selves, and my wife turns out the light and goes to bed. I mean well, but damn it, it's just so addictive. This warning contains a serious message - one that's important for you to acknowledge and prepare for. My article last month touted the new generation of "copiers." These machines, advancing from the old mimeograph days ... remember sniffing the freshly baked mimeograph sheets of paper? Was that safe? Perhaps that explains it...never mind. So, anyway, a friend of mine says "wow, that's great. A copier that lets you copy, scan and print, all at 60 pages a minute, what a world." I had to agree. Then my friend asked one simple question: "what hap- pens when your copier breaks?" I'd never considered that. I assured him these new products were very reliable. Nothing to fear. Of course, that small voice in the back of your head you don't want to acknowledge thought, yeah, what if? But don't worry, that won't happen.

Wrong! Picture this. It's Friday morning, and we're committed to responding to 75 sets of interrogatories, as well as scanning a thousand pages of medical records on a mass tort case. The discovery was due on Monday, so we set aside Friday to complete the project. Perfect, right? Perfect for Murphy's law. Just as we started the first scanning job, the copier, scanner, printer, stops working. I mean, nothing. After 30 minutes of waiting on the help line, I was told that for some "strange" reason, and this hasn't happened to any- one else in the 1600 installs they performed, our system lost all connection with the network and is inoperable. I didn't need the help desk to tell me the last part. Fine.

I asked when can the mega-billion dollar company who sold us this "Mercedes Benz" of a copier come out to repair the machine and bring productivity back to our office? The answer....they thought there might be a can- cellation on Wednesday! Excuse me. This would be like telling the quarterback during the superbowl that there might be a replacement for his defective shoe sometime tomorrow!

They were serious. I hadn't realized just how much we had come to rely on our new machine, nor how much the machine boosted our productivity. We had to fall back upon our tried and true HP printers and our 2-page a minute scanner. Oh, the job got done, but it took the better part of the weekend. I was sharing this sorry story with my colleague and fellow trial lawyer Buddy Herzog, whose sympathetic response was "Paul, that's why we have TWO of those machines. For back-up!" Boy, business must be good for Buddy! But, sadly, he was right. This brings me to the subject of this month's article. The newest, smartest, cheapest, fastest method of data man- agement. The systems are called ASP (oy veh, another acronym) This stands for "Application Service Provider." An ASP works like this: Your software "applications" are run, not at your office, but at a remote location (your ASP's facility). The computer monitor at your office merely displays an image of the software that is being run, commonly over the internet, at the ASP's server site.

The advantages of using an ASP are: No more purchasing of software for your office computers. No more 12- year old technology consultants charging you thousands of dollars a month to keep your in-house system oper- ational. Remote access to your "office" computer from any internet connected desktop. A reasonable monthly fee of around $50.00 per user so you can begin to "fix" your computer costs. There is lots of good about the ASP model.

The downside, at least for now, is also important. Some of the "downside issues" are: What happens if your ASP has technical problems? Would you still be able to access your firm's own files? Concerns about securi- ty. What if a hacker gains access to your ASP's computer? What happens to your client's secure, privileged data? What happens if you don't pay the ASP's bills...who "owns" the data? What if your ASP goes bankrupt? Just a few of the questions that need to be resolved before the ASP market will become commonplace. Something to think about.