Idea to bounce off of you all. Instant search server? Similar to locate?
 

All,

I was sitting around, thinking of new ideas, and I imagine this is possible, or even been done before, but is there a way to set up something of a "locate for windows" type of thing?

What I mean by that, is a linux server, with a database being updated regularly, similar to updatedb, being searchable to my windows users like locate?

I have a lot of files for a small office (40 people and 400,000 files), and I was wondering the feasibility or even the possibility of having such a feature? My users are constantly looking for files, and I was wondering if this would be something that might be useful and possible?

What do you all think? Am I crazy, or could something like this really work?

Of course, I'd like it to be open source, and free. :) I know that Google has their own servers, but with us being a non-profit, it tends to put a damper on things. :)

Thanks in advance!

sure, why not.

Easiest way to do this is by running apache on the linux server, then setting up a php script that can be invoked by your users from any windows web browser. Enter the search term in a text box, click on the search button, and the command "locate 'search term'" is run on the linux server.

Piece of cake.

That's not a bad idea. I never would have thought about that. Thanks!