Editing WinFS (section)

==Motivation==
Many [[filesystem]]s found on common [[operating systems]], including the [[NTFS]] filesystem which is used in modern versions of Microsoft Windows, store files and other objects only as a [[Byte stream|stream of bytes]], and have little or no information about the data stored in the files.  Such file systems also provide only a single way of organizing the files, namely via directories and file names.<ref name="Dev1a">{{cite web | url = http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms996622.aspx | title = A Developer's Perspective on WinFS: Part 1 | publisher = MSDN | author = Shawn Wildermuth | date = 30 June 2006 | access-date = 2007-06-30}}</ref><ref name="Organize">{{cite web | url = http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2005/11/01/487894.aspx | title = Unify, Organize, Explore, and Innovate. Oh my! (Part 2) | publisher = WinFS Team Blog | author = Vijay Bangaru | access-date = 2007-06-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070609030458/http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2005/11/01/487894.aspx | archive-date = 2007-06-09 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Because a file system has no knowledge about the data it stores,<ref name="Dev1a" /> applications tend to use their own, often [[Proprietary format|proprietary]], [[file format]]s. This hampers sharing of data between multiple applications. It becomes difficult to create an application which processes information from multiple file types, because the programmers have to understand the [[File format|structure]] and [[Semantics#Computer science|semantics]] of all the files.<ref name="WinFSFiles">{{cite web | url = http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480690.aspx | title = The WinFS Files: Divide et Impera | publisher = MSDN | author = Sean Grimaldi | date = 13 September 2006 | access-date = 2007-06-30}}</ref> Using common file formats is a workaround to this problem but not a universal solution; there is no guarantee that all applications will use the format. Data with standardized schema, such as [[XML]] documents and [[relational database|relational data]] fare better, as they have a standardized structure and run-time requirements.<ref name="WinFS101">{{cite web | url = http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-US/library/aa480687.aspx | title = WinFS 101: Introducing the New Windows File System | publisher = MSDN | author = Thomas Rizzo | date = 13 September 2006 | access-date = 2007-06-30}}</ref>

Also, a traditional file system can retrieve and search data based only on the filename, because the only knowledge it has about the data is the name of the files that store the data.<ref name="WinFSFiles" />  A better solution is to tag files with attributes that describe them.  Attributes are [[metadata]] about the files such as the type of file (such as ''document'', ''picture'', ''music'', ''creator'', etc.).<ref name="Dev1a" /> This allows files to be searched for by their attributes, in ways not possible using a folder hierarchy, such as finding ''"pictures which have person X"''. The attributes can be recognizable by either the file system natively, or via some extension.<ref name="Dev1a" /> [[Desktop search]] applications take this concept a step further. They extract data, including attributes, from files and index it. To extract the data, they use a filter for each file format. This allows for searching based on both the file's attributes and the data in it.<ref name="Dev1a" />

However, this still does not help in managing related data, as disparate items do not have any relationships defined. For example, it is impossible to search for ''"the phone numbers of all persons who live in Acapulco and each have more than 100 appearances in my photo collection and from whom I have had e-mail within the last month"''. Such a search could not be done unless it is based on a data model which has both the [[semantics]] as well as relationships of data defined.<ref name="Dev1a" /><ref name="Organize" />  WinFS aims to provide such a data model and the runtime infrastructure that can be used to store the data, as well as the relationships between data items according to the data model, doing so at a satisfactory level of performance.