These would obviously have to be downloaded and installed locally on the client to interact with the cgi applications. Sounds according to you that it wouldn't be a good idea to do it in perl ( :-/ ) So the question then becomes...
does anyone have a recomendation on an easier to use low cost programming solution (think like perl!!) that would work for this type of problem?
I know that Java and I believe C#/VB have options through Microsofts .Net framework to do what I'm looking for. But those are commercial solutions which cost money and don't usually come with the brilliant help found at sites like this.
No, these same problems are a problem in any language. The reason you can't get to that stuff from any known plugin is because it's a security problem to be able to get to it. Java probably comes the closest, but it is carefully designed to not let you break out of the browser ... for a reason.