Re: FTP file submission utility via website
I'd make a plug for using PHP scripts via an Apache web server on Mac OSX. I think you can still download the compiled "WebServerX Kit" from Apple. Compiling is a level of geekdom you can live without. I personally run it on FreeBSD but my development environment is MAC. Big problem with FTP is that the browser support for it is heading in a million different directions. Mac users have the added challenge that every time you reference the FTP protocol in a browser, you get dumped out to an OSX window. Apples support of FTP is a bit finicky, passive modes and port limitations keep it from working on some perfectly viable FTP servers.
With PHP you'll be using an internal php file writing process and the data is sent from the client as form data so it's got very uniform support. It's very easy in the script to automatically e-mail. If you've got the time and the brains you can also integrate a MySQL database to track uploaded files. It takes some time to put it together but it's all open source GPL freeware stuff and it'll run on any old piece of hardware. A simple google search will put you on to some free premade scrpt modules for uploading files. Once you've mastered scripting in PHP with a database back end, the world is your oyster.
Simple precautions should be followed. Write files to an isolated disk with a quota so nobody fills your system drive just for laughs. Code as well as you can to make sure nobody uploads executable code to locations they can access later to run malicious programs, etc., etc.
No matter what you do, there'll be the 10% of users to technologically challenged to upload a file. Good luck.
