Editing WinFS (section)

== Development ==
{{Update|inaccurate=yes|date=February 2019}}
{{Graphical timeline
 | help=off
 | from=1990
 | to=2019
 | scale-increment=1
 | title=Structured Storage Timeline
 | align=right
 | width=15
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 | title-colour=#dcdcdc
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 | bar1-from=1990
 | bar1-to=1994
 | bar1-text=<span title="Object File System">OFS</span> in [[Cairo (operating system)|Cairo]]<ref name="PaulT" />
 | bar1-colour=#b0c4de
 | note1 = Canceled
 | note1-at = 1992
 | bar2-from=1995
 | bar2-to=1996.5
 | bar2-text=Storage+, using [[Microsoft SQL Server|SQL 7.0]]<ref name="PaulT" />
 | bar2-colour=#d8bfd8
 | note2 = Canceled
 | note2-at = 1996
 | bar3-from=1996.5
 | bar3-to=1998
 | bar3-text=<span title="Relational File System">RFS</span>, using [[Microsoft SQL Server|SQL 2000]]<ref name="PaulT" />
 | bar3-colour=#9acd32
 | note3 = Canceled
 | note3-at = 1997.5
 | bar4-from=1998
 | bar4-to=2000
 | bar4-text= [[Microsoft Exchange Server|Exchange Webstore]]<ref name="Destiny">{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/02/24/538925.aspx |title=My tryst with Destiny, err… Integrated Storage |access-date=2007-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031054259/http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/02/24/538925.aspx |archive-date=2007-10-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 | bar4-colour=#f4a460
 | note4 = Features cut
 | note4-at = 1999
 | bar5-from=2000.5
 | bar5-to=2002
 | bar5-text=[[Microsoft Outlook|Outlook]] <span title="Local Information Store">LIS</span><ref name="Destiny" />
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 | note5 = Features cut
 | note5-at = 2001.5
 | bar6-from=2003
 | bar6-to=2006
 | bar6-text=<span title="Windows Future Storage">WinFS</span><ref name="PaulT" />
 | note6 = Canceled
 | note6-at = 2005
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 | bar7-to=2009
 | bar7-text=Microsoft Semantic Engine
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 | note7 = No known info
 | note7-at = 2007.5
 | caption = Timeline of the various structured storage projects by [[Microsoft]]. None yet has resulted in a full featured runtime and API around it. Years are approximate.
}}
The development of WinFS is an extension to a feature that was initially planned in the early 1990s. Dubbed ''Object File System'', it was supposed to be included as part of [[Cairo (operating system)|Cairo]]. OFS was supposed to have powerful data aggregation features,<ref name="PaulT">{{cite web | url = http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winfs_preview.asp | title = Windows Storage Foundation (WinFS) Preview | author = Paul Thurrott | access-date = 2007-06-30 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070702131752/http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winfs_preview.asp | archive-date = 2007-07-02 }}</ref> but the Cairo project was shelved, and with it OFS. However, later during the development of [[Component Object Model|COM]], a storage system, called Storage+, based on then-upcoming SQL Server 8.0, was planned, which was slated to offer similar aggregation features.<ref name="PaulT" /> This, too, never materialized, and a similar technology, ''Relational File System'' (RFS), was conceived to be launched with SQL Server 2000.<ref name="PaulT" /> However, SQL Server 2000 ended up being a minor upgrade to SQL Server 7.0 and RFS was not implemented.

The concept was not scrapped, and served as the base for WinFS.<ref name="PaulT" /> WinFS was initially planned for inclusion in [[Windows Vista]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39191853,00.htm | title = Will Longhorn be worth the pain? | publisher = ZDNet | author = Cath Everett | access-date = 2007-06-30 | archive-date = 2010-03-12 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100312103502/http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39191853,00.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> and build 4051 of Windows Vista, then called by its codename "Longhorn", given to developers at the Microsoft [[Professional Developers Conference]] in 2003, included WinFS, but it suffered from significant performance issues.<ref name="PaulT" /> In August 2004, Microsoft announced that WinFS would not ship with Windows Vista; it would instead be available as a downloadable update after Vista's release.<ref name="PaulT" />

On August 29, 2005,<ref name="PaulT" /> Microsoft quietly made Beta 1 of WinFS available to MSDN subscribers. It worked on [[Windows XP]], and required the [[.NET Framework]] to run. The WinFS API was included in the ''System.Storage'' namespace.<ref name="ForDev">{{cite web | url = http://www.ntfs.com/winfs_developers.htm | title = WinFS for Developers | publisher = NTFS.com | access-date = 2007-07-04}}</ref> The beta was refreshed on December 1, 2005 to be compatible with version 2.0 of the .NET Framework.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2005/12/01/499042.aspx | title = WinFS Beta 1 Refresh now available | author = Vijay Bangaru | publisher = WinFS Team Blog | access-date = 2007-06-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070520220552/http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2005/12/01/499042.aspx | archive-date = 2007-05-20 | url-status = dead }}</ref> WinFS Beta 2 was planned for some time later in 2006,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/05/22/604075.aspx | title = Showing off the next release of WinFS at Tech Ed 2006, in Boston! Join us! | author = Shan Sinha | publisher = WinFS Team Blog | access-date = 2007-06-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070308041330/http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/05/22/604075.aspx | archive-date = 2007-03-08 | url-status = dead }}</ref> and was supposed to include integration with [[Windows Desktop Search]], so that search results include results from both regular files and WinFS stores, as well as allow access of WinFS data using [[ADO.NET]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/02/24/538925.aspx | title = My tryst with Destiny, err… Integrated Storage | publisher = WinFS Team Blog | author = Sanjay Anand | access-date = 2007-06-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071031054259/http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/02/24/538925.aspx | archive-date = 2007-10-31 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

On June 23, 2006, the WinFS team at Microsoft announced that WinFS would no longer be delivered as a separate product,<ref name="canned" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/06/26/648075.aspx|title=Update to the Update|publisher=WinFS Team Blog|author=Quentin Clark|access-date=2007-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703214245/http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/06/26/648075.aspx|archive-date=2007-07-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> and some components would be brought under the umbrella of other technologies. Many of the principle features Microsoft intended to provide with WinFS included a pane for metadata property editing, [[breadcrumb (navigation)|breadcrumb]]-based property navigation, filtering or stacking items over properties, [[incremental search]], and [[virtual folder#Windows|saved search]]es;<ref name="WinFS2003PDC">{{cite web |url=http://msdn.microsoft.com:80/Longhorn/understanding/pillars/WinFS/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnaero/html/wux_topic_storage.asp |title=WinFS: The Windows File System (Microsoft Access 2002 Technical Articles) |date=October 2003 |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |work=[[MSDN]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031221235634/http://msdn.microsoft.com/Longhorn/understanding/pillars/WinFS/default.aspx?pull=%2Flibrary%2Fen-us%2Fdnaero%2Fhtml%2Fwux_topic_storage.asp |archive-date=2003-12-21 |access-date=February 1, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> these features were incorporated in Windows Vista.<ref name="WindowsVistaProductGuide">{{cite web |url=http://download.microsoft.com//download/c/9/8/c988dce4-1971-4ad4-a1ef-df99e596a4cc/WVPG%20RTM.docx |title=Windows Vista Product Guide |date=2006 |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |format=DOCX |pages=44–51 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701021143/http://download.microsoft.com//download/c/9/8/c988dce4-1971-4ad4-a1ef-df99e596a4cc/WVPG%20RTM.docx |archive-date=July 1, 2011 |access-date=March 1, 2018}}</ref> ''Query composition'', a feature of WinFS that allowed users to perform additional searches that reuse the results of a previous query,<ref name="Rules"/> was later incorporated in Windows Vista.<ref name="QueryComposition">{{cite web |url=http://shellrevealed.com/blogs/shellblog/archive/2006/10/31/Query-Composition_3A00_-Building-a-search-upon-another-search.aspx |title=Query Composition: Building a search upon another search |last=Bentz |first=Ben |date=October 31, 2006 |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |work=Shell: Revealed Blog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215210717/http://shellrevealed.com/blogs/shellblog/archive/2006/10/31/Query-Composition_3A00_-Building-a-search-upon-another-search.aspx |archive-date=December 15, 2006 |access-date=March 2, 2018}}</ref>

Examples of uses of the technology are the [[object-relational mapping]] components into [[ADO.NET#Entity Framework|ADO.NET Entity Framework]]; support for unstructured data, adminless mode of operation, support for [[file system]] objects via the <code>FILESTREAM</code> data type, and hierarchical data  in [[Microsoft SQL Server#SQL Server 2008|SQL Server 2008]], then codenamed ''Katmai'', as well as integration with [[Win32]] [[API]]s and [[Windows Shell]] and support for traversal of hierarchies by traversing relationships into later releases of [[Microsoft SQL Server]];<ref name="where" /> and the synchronization components into [[Microsoft Sync Framework]].<ref name="where" />

In 2013 Bill Gates cited WinFS as his greatest disappointment at Microsoft and that the idea of WinFS was ahead of its time, which will re-emerge.<ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/12/bill_gates_reddit_ama/ "Billionaire baron Bill Gates still mourns Vista's stillborn WinFS."]</ref>