Summary

The WinFS data store provides a far richer data storage model than traditional file systems. Because it supports data, behavior, and relations, it s difficult to categorize WinFS as a file system, a relational database, or an object database. It s a bit of all those technologies in one product. WinFS provides a common definition of ubiquitous information that is globally visible and available to all applications running on Longhorn. Applications can leverage the query, retrieval, transactional update, and filtering capabilities of WinFS; therefore, the developer spends less time developing data access and storage code and more time working on unique application functionality.