Have a look at:
mod_dav - Apache HTTP Server
and
WebDAV Resources
"WebDAV ('Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning')...[is an]...extension to the HTTP protocol allows creating, moving, copying, and deleting resources and collections on a remote web server.
Microsoft calls it 'Web folders' and implements it badly! Basically it's a way of doing file access over http. Zimbra uses WebDAV to expose things like attachments and briefcases for file-based stuff. Search these forums for posts on how to do that.
My thought was that you could use DAV to connect to users''home' directories via the browser interface. I'm no expert either so I think we need another contributor at this point...