The Basic Idea While there are many variations, the essential
idea is to enhance the number and type of file attributes to
enable location and access to files without knowing the exact
path. BeOS added B-tree indices for additional attributes (such
as author, title, etc.) thus enabling fast searching based on
those attributes. WinFS seems to use Microsft's SQL server (or a
version thereof) to store and index file attributes. Using RDBMS
technology to index file attributes enables fast search of files
based on a number of attributes besides file name and path. In
effect, we enhance access capability by providing many more new
access paths that were not available before. At its core, this
idea of adding a database to a file system is about adding many
more new access mechanisms to files. The increased flexibility
enables users to locate files using different terms, especially
domain specific terms that have nothing to do with file name and
path. The Arguments Against It Many developers and other
technically-inc