6.2 Software, Operating Systems, Computer Systems & the Internet
Key Takeaways
- System software runs the machine and applications software performs user tasks, so the operating system is the layer every application depends on rather than an application itself.
- The NALS outline's mainframe, mini, and micro taxonomy reflects scale of shared processing: mainframes serve many concurrent users, minicomputers serve departments, and microcomputers serve one user.
- Law-office applications cluster into practice management, document management, time and billing, litigation support, and legal research categories, and the paralegal is usually the power user of all five.
- Internet infrastructure vocabulary — browser, URL, domain, server, cloud, VPN, and intranet versus extranet — is examinable because client-facing extranets and remote access raise confidentiality duties.
- Metadata embedded in a word processing file can disclose prior drafts, comments, and author information, so converting to a flattened format before production is a standard confidentiality control.
6.2 Software, Operating Systems, Computer Systems & the Internet
[!NOTE] NALS PP Exam Blueprint Focus: Under Technology: Computers, the Part 2 outline lists computer software (applications software and operating systems software), computer systems (mainframe, mini, and micro), the internet, and processing documents. The scale taxonomy is legacy vocabulary, but it is in the published outline and it does describe a real distinction, so it is worth knowing on its own terms.
System Software Versus Applications Software
Software divides into two layers, and the exam tests the boundary between them.
| System software | Applications software | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Runs and manages the machine | Performs a user task |
| Examples | Operating systems, device drivers, utilities | Word processing, spreadsheets, billing systems, document review platforms |
| User interaction | Mostly invisible | Directly operated |
| Dependency | Applications depend on it | Depends on the operating system |
An operating system — Windows, macOS, Linux, and the mobile systems — performs four jobs: it manages memory, schedules processor time among competing tasks, controls input and output devices through drivers, and provides the file system and user interface. When a firm says an application is "not supported on that version," it is describing a mismatch at this layer.
Utilities sit alongside the operating system: backup software, antivirus and anti-malware, disk management, compression tools, and encryption software.
The Mainframe, Mini, and Micro Taxonomy
The outline's three-way classification describes how many users share one processing resource.
| Class | Scale | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Mainframe | Very large; hundreds or thousands of concurrent users; extremely high transaction throughput and reliability | Banks, insurers, government benefit systems, court case-management systems in large jurisdictions |
| Minicomputer | Mid-range; a department or a mid-size organization | Historically, a single firm's shared system |
| Microcomputer | A single user | Desktop, laptop, tablet — what sits on a paralegal's desk |
A supercomputer sits above the mainframe and is optimized for raw calculation speed rather than transaction volume. A server is a machine dedicated to providing resources — files, mail, applications, databases — to other machines on a network, and can be any of the above scales.
The modern equivalent of the shared mainframe is cloud computing: processing and storage rented from a third-party provider and reached over the internet, which is architecturally a return to shared central resources reached from thin local devices.
Networks and the Internet
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| LAN | Local area network — machines connected within one office or building |
| WAN | Wide area network — connected sites across geography |
| Server | A machine that provides files, mail, applications, or database services to other machines |
| Internet | The global public network of interconnected networks |
| Intranet | A private network using internet technologies, accessible only inside the organization |
| Extranet | A controlled-access portal extending part of the intranet to outside parties, such as a client-facing document portal |
| VPN | Virtual private network — an encrypted tunnel that lets a remote user reach the firm network securely |
| Browser | Software that retrieves and displays web content |
| URL | Uniform resource locator — the address of a web resource |
| Domain | The registered name portion of an address; the top-level domain is the final segment, such as .gov, .edu, or .com |
The extranet deserves particular attention in legal practice. A client portal that lets a corporate client see its own matter documents is convenient and is also a place where a permissions error can disclose one client's material to another. Access provisioning on an extranet is a confidentiality control.
Top-level domains matter for research reliability. A statute retrieved from a .gov legislative site is a different reliability proposition from the same statute posted on a .com aggregator, and a paralegal verifying currency of law should prefer the official source.
Categories of Law-Office Software
| Category | What it does | Examples of function |
|---|---|---|
| Word processing | Drafting, styles, redlining, tables of authorities | Comparing two versions of a contract |
| Spreadsheet | Calculation, damages models, settlement distributions | Modeling comparative-fault allocation |
| Practice management | Matter records, calendars, contacts, tasks | Central matter intake and deadline calendar |
| Document management | Profiled storage, version control, full-text search | Retrieving every prior brief on a legal issue |
| Time and billing | Timekeeping, invoicing, trust and operating accounting | Generating monthly client statements |
| Litigation support | Document review, coding, production, transcript management | Reviewing a gigabyte-scale ESI production |
| Legal research | Case, statute, and secondary-source databases with citators | Verifying that a cited case is still good law |
| Court filing | Electronic filing and service | Filing a motion through a court e-filing portal |
Processing Documents
The outline lists creating, inputting, editing, formatting, and preparing special layout design as document-processing subtopics. In a legal setting each has a specific professional meaning:
- Creating — starting from a firm template or approved form rather than from a prior client's document, which prevents the classic error of leaving another client's name in a filing.
- Inputting — keyboarding, transcription from digital dictation, scanning with OCR, or importing from a form-assembly system.
- Editing — tracked changes, comparison of versions, comment resolution, and proofreading against the source.
- Formatting — applying the court's local rules on margins, typeface, point size, line spacing, page limits, and line numbering. Local rules vary and are mandatory; a nonconforming brief can be stricken.
- Special layout design — pleading paper with line numbering, exhibit tabs and slip sheets, tables of contents and tables of authorities, signature blocks, certificates of service, and captions conforming to the court's requirements.
Metadata and Confidentiality
Metadata is data about data: author, creation and modification dates, editing time, tracked changes, comments, and prior text in a word processing file. Sending a native word processing file to opposing counsel can transmit deleted language, internal comments, and the identity of everyone who touched the draft.
Standard controls:
- Convert to a flattened format before transmitting a document outside the firm, unless the native format is required.
- Run a metadata scrubbing utility where native format must be produced.
- Accept or reject all tracked changes and delete all comments before conversion.
- Confirm whether the production protocol requires native files with metadata intact, which is common in electronic discovery and is the deliberate opposite of scrubbing.
The ethical hook is direct: the duty of confidentiality in Model Rule 1.6 extends to inadvertent electronic disclosure, and the comments to Model Rule 1.1 on competence are widely read to include a duty to understand the benefits and risks of relevant technology.
A paralegal emails opposing counsel a word processing version of a settlement agreement. Opposing counsel replies quoting language the firm had deleted during internal review and naming the associate who inserted a clause. What failure occurred?
Which item is system software rather than applications software?
A firm builds a secured web portal so that a corporate client can view documents in its own matters from outside the firm's offices. What is this arrangement called, and what is the principal risk a paralegal should watch?