I know I started this thread a long time ago, but I just stumbled over the answer while browsing the documentation for QFile. There, it says, (http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.7/qfile.html#platform-specific-issues)
"File permissions are handled differently on Linux/Mac OS X and Windows. In a non writable directory on Linux, files cannot be created. This is not always the case on Windows, where, for instance, the 'My Documents' directory usually is not writable, but it is still possible to create files in it."
It appears that it really is not writable, but I could create files in it.