This discussion brings a, possibly naive, thought to my mind.

If I remember rightly, a lawsuit stopped Microsoft integrating Explorer into Windows, in order to prevent unfair competition in the browser market.

Is it time (if legally possible) to give the file system the same "free" status?
I.e. "define" the file system of a computer to be something outside the OS.
E.g. as part of a "special" software layer between the hardware (or hardware abstraction layer) and the OS.
And with the requirement that any supplier of a (future) OS must release the "OS-file-system interface" to third party developers.

Arguments :
File sharing , interacting computers with different OS:s , parallell OS:s on the same computer : all quickly growing.

There might slowly grow a "separate" market for file systems.
If so, developments of OS-file-system interface standards might come.
( Wouldn't this make some hardware drivers less OS specific? )

Or am I missing the point(s) ?