I just had a quick play with Microsoft's Logparser tool and boy it's a powerful piece of kit. I was able to quickly gather some log data using a SQL-like syntax. For example this piece of code parses all access logs of my FMS server, selects all cs-bytes fields where the event equals 'play' and lists them in the console window:

logparser "SELECT cs-bytes FROM 'C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash Media Server\logs\access*.log' where x-event='play'" -i:W3C

Ok, this query makes little sense but I guess it gives an idea of what can be done.

Logparser can not only output to text files but can also generate HTML reports, charts and even submit to a database (logging) server.

I guess all we need to do is figure out the syntax for meaningful queries and reports... Post in the comments if you can come up with anything. Things such as 'how much data has xyz application consumed' or 'how many users have logged on to this app in the last 2 weeks' would be useful starting points.

Download Logparser 2.2