Last month I wrote about the key features in Web 2.0 sites and applications. I discussed the importance of the Look and Feel of webbased software and how this is key to the Web 2.0 experience. Today I want to discuss another key element in Web 2.0 software.


Part 2 - Compatibility of Data


When you open up a company you need customers. Customers won't come to you unless your products are good and you're cheaper than the competition. On the internet, customers are mostly non-paying customers, so the financial element is unusable in your struggle to get the customers. How do you get the customers then ? Well, there are two things you have to think of.

Firstly, think about your customers and what product they're currently using. Why ? Because you don't only have to have a better product, but the customer you're trying to persuade to move over to your product has to be able to do whatever he did before whthout any difficulties. A good example are online office suites. There's a couple out there and office suite users are typically Microsoft Office users that have been working with closed format files (.doc, .xls). Either you offer them compatibility or you show them why your product is so much better, good enough even to move over and start using your product.

The current available online office suites are very reliable and offer lots of features. One of the key features that make these applications attractive is the sharing and collaboration options for documents, but this is besides the subject.