I am a California family law attorney. Before that I was a systems engineering consultant, with a specialty in developing and deploying software development platforms for large scale projects. Like the Air Defense Systems Product Line at Hughes Aicraft - and stuff like that. I was a consultant with Digital Equipment for nearly 10 years. Through DEC, I was a software resident at Hughes Aircraft for 6 years. I helped design the software architecture for the San Diego County Recorder's office. I was a frequent participant on the design and architecture teams for the Hughes Aircraft Air Defense Systems Product Line.
I had no idea what OpenOffice was about until I stumbled upon your site a few days ago. Pretty much at random. I must have searched the Internet for something else, and gotten distracted. I started reading. Then I played with the Beta, and got excited. I would like to help you. But I do not have the immediate resources around me, to help you in a very significant manner. The assistants that I do have, are either paralegals or secretaries. They are not programmers, mathematicians, or engineers, such as I assembled at DEC. For right now, I would like access to an individual with detailed knowledge to help me develop a competent Legal Pleading template. Technically it's trivial, but marketingwise, it's critical. I found a couple such templates and downloaded them. Neither really solves the problem quite correctly. There might be underlying source code problems that made it difficult for the developers to implement. With adquate access to detailed knowledge of the underlying software platform, that problem should be solvable very readily. I would anticipate that OpenOffice would serve the Legal Community very well. We have been frustrated with Correl and Microsoft for years. They have been nonresponsive to our needs. Contribute, and we will contribute back. >From there (Legal Pleading Template) I will propose integrating into varios PIMs, particularly incuding Abacus Law, and PIMs linked thereto through a product they call the Companion Link. A good solution is needed for printing from a wireless device. I am not impressed with the solutions that presently exist. This provides a realistic solution for attorneys, which is far more accessible than Microsoft Office. It provides a beach head, from which private developers can launch a volley of applications and methods without competing with monoliths. Whenever I really wanted to tweak Microsoft's stuff, I found myself remembering why I never did ask them for a job. They burn everyone out. This open source technology is definitely the way to go. Guys like me (creamed by Bill Gates undercutting our prices of operating systems) might even get back into the business with stuff like this going around. For what it's worth, you can see my website at http://www.gassner-law.com/. It wouldn't show much software engineering, since my family markets Family Law Legal Services there. Stephen Gassner
