1. A better bug/issue tracking system
2. A custom CMS
3. A code library/platform for easily building Business CRUD apps.
4. A word processing app that has only the 20% features that 80% of Word users use.
5. A better classmates.com
1. basecamp/fogbugz/jira
2. Confluence/Sharepoint
3. django/rails
4. Google Docs
5. Facebook
Both frameworks support plugins you know.
Not saying you are wrong, just saying I think there is room in that space for some innovation.
Sure, HTML editing is still required and can be painful, but it is an effective way of branding the final result. I think clickety-click interfaces where you modify the interface through various selections / drag-n-dropping are seriously flawed.
Yes, MS Office is a nice example of what a WYSIWYG interface can do, but that's just for standard documents. As soon as you want to get creative in Word, you'll feel the pain and start wishing for HTML.
Besides ... design, other than replacing a logo / playing with colors / choosing a layout from a predefined set, should be left to people that know what they are doing and there is no way around that, because IMHO the hard part is not the HTML language itself, which is included nowadays in high-school curriculum.
Sample walk-through :: Building a Store Locator type Google Maps app over GAE, using iFreeTools : http://blogs.ifreetools.com/2010/11/building-store-locator-t...
It should be built on top of SQL server, or Oracle. People are using it already. It should have a subset of Crystal Reports, with an easy way to develop simple entry yet let you override the business logic if necessary.
Essentially, combine ext-js with django's administration, with a marketplace of addons for various verticals.
As an aside, one thing that these type of tools often lack is integrated testing. Which is a shame, because it seems like it should be easier in these tools, as the tool can have a lot of context about what the fields, etc, mean.
But you've still hit the nail on the head with your list: there are vast numbers of failures and uncompleted projects for every success.
Nowadays nobody bothers, but the online auction space was very attractive for a lot of people.
ebay still has a lot of flaws but the name is a verb for selling something online. You don't see many people trying to take them on anymore.
Being a big fish in a small pond can be profitable - these days, its Groupon clones setting up outside the US. I think this stands a higher than average chance of working - simply because the model does require direct interaction with businesses, and therefore local operators are going to have an advantage in terms of cultural/local knowledge.
If you're lucky to win your local market, you'll probably end up getting acquired by Groupon itself.
It is a valid strategy to get in and own a regional variation before the bigger players move in. But you have to move very fast - so fast that the 'big' player hasn't really been noticed yet, or bothered with the local market.
There's still plenty of countries with no real craigslist implementation. But for some reason nobody seems to want to do it.
So you're correct, you can early-move-copy on a big idea, but you've got to have the conviction to move early, and your idea must have ties to the locality through real life goods and businesses (or, I suppose, languages).
Its not wrong, its just not a very big market. Especially when Microsoft et al are nearly giving such things away.