Welcome to the first post in our new 4D business blog. In this blog we will focus on the business issues of being a 4D Developer. From time to time we may delve into the side streets, but for the most part we will stay with how 4D Developers can increase business in this fast changing world.

One of the obstacles facing 4D Developers as they move into the new world of Web 2.0 Applications is the fear of not covering every feature before releasing a Web 2.0 module for their application. However, the opposite is true for most successful Web 2.0 Applications. These developers focused on the core features and released minimal releases.

For example, I am drafting this in Basecamp, a very successful project management application, which has very limited features but has enough that it has signed up millions of users. I know you will say, “but my current users expects these hundreds of features and won’t accept anything less than what they have currently.” Now if you are the market leader in your segment and have a majority percentage then this argument makes more sense. However in all other cases there are huge market segments, read not your current users, waiting for something simpler which will make their lives easier and more productive.

Stripping away your application to the core is not an easy job, however. We have to leave our egos at the door. We need to forget why we added a feature, but investigate its relevance to the majority of the target segment. Once we have this list pared, go talk to users in the target segment and do further refinement of the lists. Set a benchmark, say of 80% and if 80% of these users don’t agree a feature is essential, strip it. I repeat this is painful, it is like tearing our lives’ work apart. However, this is a critical step if you are to build a real Web 2.0 application.

The great news for you as a 4D developer is you can still provide customers who demand the sophisticated feature-rich solution as part of your client/server solution. On top of this solution, using the same codebase, you can provide a focused, targeted web 2.0 Ajax application which can appeal to all of those potential customers you are not reaching today.

We at 4D are here to help. Please contact us if you wish to take the next step to creating a focused, targeted web 2.0 application. Our team here will work with you to help you target those users who you are missing today.

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