The problem is that adding structure to the default data means specialized APIs to access them. This is why a generic, object oriented data store would be very complex to maintain.<p>While fundamentally necessary, files are not the answer to everything. There are designs such as file attributes to cater for file metadata. I suggest reading on ReiserFS ideas.<p>Filesystems have to be there though. They are complex and have done a good job at hiding the complexity such that people like the original poster may even start to think they're unnecessary.