Can a browser based application write to files on a local hard disk?

[H. K. Bemis]

Do many of the readers work with the public and their computers?

I happen to.  In my experience, the majority of computer users are
CLUELESS when it comes to anything more then surfing the web, and many
of them can't seem to do that without getting in trouble.  If you start
asking them to backup their data, they will take the path of least
resistance.  It's unrealistic to expect that the users are computer
savvy, because they aren't ,and they don't care to be.  I don't mean to
sound rude, however it is the truth.

If you are going to require the user to backup their data or lose it,
you're going to generate a lot of initial visits, but then you'll see
your hits drop as people stop using the site when they learn they'll
have to re-enter their data.  Again.

Am I missing why a db is out of the question?

Have you looked at coding something up in XUL?  You might be able to
create a client/server app that could save the data locally, preform
calculations on it, then send the results to be saved on the web server
or something....

A lot of us forget that to many non-geeks, we walk on water.  We take
our knowledge for granted, but many, many people have just enough
knowledge to get by, and even then, they can't seem to stay out of
trouble.

~kurth

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill McGonigle <bill at bfccomputing.com>
To: Ben Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com>
Cc: Greater NH Linux User Group <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
Subject: Re: Can a browser based application write to files on a local
hard disk?
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:41:02 -0500

On Jan 28, 2008, at 18:59, Ben Scott wrote:

> People have unrealistic expectations of computers.

Ben's right - people expect free sites to be as reliable as Amazon or  
Google.  I recently had to explain to a small company that they were  
looking for more uptime than Apple has, and did they think that was  
realistic - it's not just an outside expectation.

Having a 'How Do I Backup My Data?' page would be a great way to be  
proactive about it - lead and teach before chastising, and all that.

-Bill

-----
Bill McGonigle, Owner           Work: 603.448.4440
BFC Computing, LLC              Home: 603.448.1668
bill at bfccomputing.com           Cell: 603.252.2606
http://www.bfccomputing.com/    Page: 603.442.1833
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