Is there a better metaphor than the Unix file interface for a 21st century OS, or are OS level services even the right level to be unifying behind a common abstraction? Read here first…

http://bywicket.com/users/mikel/weblog/fbc2a/Closos.html

Using objects, closures, prototypes, frames or whatever you want to call chunks of state and code, seems like the wrong approach to me. Unix files are really encompass two different types of abstractions: a hierarchical namespace interface using directories, and a byte stream oriented interface for doing I/O. Using something as generic as a closure or an object seems like going against the benefits of finding a unified interface.

I think the next generation metaphor will be some kind of database layer with a standardized data model and a powerful query system. The utility of google style full-text search, spotlight and quicksilver for intelligent access to data and applications, and the rich libraries modern programming languages have for interacting with sequences and databases all point to a DB abstraction. Limiting the functional capabilities to a query language also makes this type of abstraction suitable for distributed data access layers, where you wouldn’t want to be executing foreign code.Edit2:33 pm