In computing, WinFS is a file system being developed by Microsoft for use on its Windows operating system. The name originally stood for Windows Future Storage, but now means Windows File System. In 1992, its precursor was called the Object File System (OFS) and was planned to be a part of the Cairo operating system [1]. More recently, Microsoft announced that WinFS would form part of Windows Longhorn, but in August 2004, it was announced that in order to release Longhorn in 2006, it would contain WinFS in beta form at best, with a full version being released later as an add-on or update. Subsequent statements by Microsoft imply that WinFS will not be released until 2008 at the earliest. [2]

Skeptics have interpreted the continually moving release date as a classic sign of vapourware.

WinFS tries to bridge the worlds of traditional relational databases, objects, XML, and file systems of unstructured documents with the concept of metadata over files. Rather than representing a file with a single name, WinFS aims to represent individual domain objects - e.g. e-mails, address book entries - with indexed and searchable context and keyword information.

For example, traditional filesystems allow a user to search by the date on which a file was created - which might allow searching for when a photo was taken. However, with a WinFS system, each photo could include additional information, so that it could be searched by, for instance, who is in the picture; a set of folder-like views could then be created automatically which sorted photos by person.

The system is loosely based on a combination of the next version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, codenamed Yukon, and an underlying NTFS filesystem, and will provide access to data through both traditional file-based APIs and new object-based approaches that take advantage of the new features.

The metadata will be described in schemas, although not W3C XSD schemas. These schemas will define most of the common objects like documents, music files, email messages. Third party software vendors can define their own schemas. Microsoft claims that these operating system recognizable schemas will boost the querying and searching capabilities of the operating system.

There are also other advantages, such as sharing data types among the Windows shell and other applications.

See also

• Comparison of file systems

External links

• WinFS information from Microsoft's MSDN site.
• WinFS 101 - an official introductory article on the concept.