No, they are not the same, but they are related. The idea of ObjectSpaces is
a universal way of working with any kind of data. The idea of LINQ is a
universal way of querying any kind of data. The idea of WinFS is a universal
way of storing data.
What Microsoft has done is to realize that data is data. Everything in the
computer world is 1s and 0s. Data is simply combinations of 1s and 0s. The
file system on a computer is a database that stores data in file format, and
is very simple in terms of fetching and organizing data. It uses a
hierarchical folder/file structure, and can store metadata in a rudimentary
way. Its advantage is that (1) it is hierarchical, which is good for
indexing, and (2) It is low-level, talking almost directly to the storage
medium. A database server, such as SQL Server is also a database that stores
data in a variety of ways, mostly tabular. However, there is a hierarchical
system to the database as well. It can store any kind of data in any format.
Its chief drawback is that it must fetch the data through the layer of the
file system. And it must operate through the Operating System. What WinFS is
all about is merging the file system with a database system, to get the
benefits of both, without the limitations of either.
A database can be queried, that is, one can fetch data from it using a query
language (SQL). The idea of LINQ is to make a more extensible SQL, a
language that can query virtually any kind of data structure, for the same
purposes as SQL.
So, various departments of Microsoft have been attacking various aspects of
the same problem from different angles. Microsoft is merely bringing them
all together, which is a good thing.
--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Professional Numbskull
Show me your certification without works,
and I'll show my certification
*by* my works.