instructions for an operating system, the operating system comprising a shell and a kernel, the kernel of operating system including a database management program and a file system, and the file system is integrated with the database management program, the operating system configured to store data in the file system as file streams, and generate Items associated with the file streams in the database management program, the Items interconnected by a plurality of Relationships managed by said database management program of the operating system, each of said Items having a boundary comprising an item type, applicable subtype information, complex type properties and extensions if any, and a list of the other Items owned by the Item and paths to the file streams stored in the fle system, further wherein the list of other Items owned by the Item identifies other Items the Item extends an owning relationship to, further wherein an Item that extends an owning relationship controls at least the life time of the relationship; and

instructions for the database management program of the operating system to generate the owning relationship extending from a first Item to a second Item, wherein an owning relationship extending from the first item to the second Item denotes to said database management program of the operating system that a file stream associated with said second Item is publicly accessible to said first Item, and a lack of an owning relationship extending back from said second Item to said first Item denotes to said database management program of the operating system that a file stream associated with said first Item is inaccessible to said second Item.