Shoutbox

Ok, I understand. And I can handle my files in a single computer... no problem. But if I use a second computer, this one will create a file with same name, and if i simply drag´n´drop this files in the same folder, one file will be overwritten, and i´ll lost it. If I want to preserve all conversation, I´ll need to open, copy manually and past in another file, and taking carrefull to sort correctly the conversations.

I can see a lot of good point to save chats in a database server:
1 - No problem with backups, virus, accidental file deletion, etc: all conversation are stored in a different place and (in theory) safe.
2 - I can query the Conversation in any form I need: By Date, By User, By User and Date, By text, etc.
3 - Using a Business Inteligence Tool, like Cognos, I can generate some reports for conversations relating the chats for a lot of users (useful for big companys that users MSN Messenger as default messager).
4 - I can use any computer, in any part of the world, with any configuration, to save and consult my logs. (Lanhouses, cyber cafes, home, office, museum, library, etc)
5 - A Database connection like SQLServer is much times faster than a FTP Connection, and we do not need to download and upload files... Just run a query! It´s is faster than Windows Explorer network over Internet... it´s very very slow using a Dial-up or 256k DSL Connection. With a SQLServer, I use without problems with my 33.6Kbps modem.
6 - We can export this data in any format we want: Text files, Access MDB, Foxpro DBF, XML, etc.

Regards
- Daniel