title: Launch an external application from node.js
body: <p>I'm writing a desktop web app that uses node.js to access the local file system.  I can currently use node.js to open and copy files to different places on the hard drive.  What I would also like to do is allow the user to open a specific file using the application that is associated with the file type.  In other words, if the user selects "myfile.doc" in a Windows environment, it will launch MSWord with that file.</p>
  
  <p>I must be a victim of terminology, because I haven't been able to find anything but the spawning of child processes that communicate with node.js.  I just want to launch a file for the user to view and then let them decided what to do with it.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>