A computer implemented method, comprising: receiving at a file system interface of a file system of an operating system a file system request involving a remote file system of an XML (extensible markup language) protocol enabled Web server over the Internet the file system receiving the file system request as an ordinary file system request from an application program in a format other than the XML protocol determining, by the file system interface, whether the file system request is for a file stored in a remote file system over a network; forwarding, by the file system interface, the file system request to the file system if the file is stored locally, wherein the file system handles the file system request as an ordinary file system operation; if the file is stored in the remote file system, the file system interface forwarding the file system request to a file system plug-in that operates as an extension of the file system; the file system plug-in communicating the file system request to a network access program via a local socket connection; creating, by the network access program, an XML formatted request in response to the file system request, the XML formatted request including a uniform resource identifier that uniquely identifies a directory of the file stored in the remote file system; forwarding, by the network access program, the XML formatted request to a TCP/IP transport layer of the operating system, which transmits the XML formatted request to an appropriate XML enabled Web server based on the URI; receiving, by the network access program via the TCP/IP transport layer of the operating system, a response from the XML enabled Web server; and the network access program transferring via the local socket connection information contained in the response to the file system plug-in which forwards the response to the file system interface of the file system, wherein the information is presented as an ordinary file system response, wherein the file system requests are forwarded by the file system without knowledge of the application program, and wherein the application program is running independently with respect to the file system without requiring changes of the application program communicating with the file system. receiving at a file system interface of a file system of an operating system a file system request involving a remote file system of an XML (extensible markup language) protocol enabled Web server over the Internet the file system receiving the file system request as an ordinary file system request from an application program in a format other than the XML protocol determining, by the file system interface, whether the file system request is for a file stored in a remote file system over a network; forwarding, by the file system interface, the file system request to the file system if the file is stored locally, wherein the file system handles the file system request as an ordinary file system operation; if the file is stored in the remote file system, the file system interface forwarding the file system request to a file system plug-in that operates as an extension of the file system; the file system plug-in communicating the file system request to a network access program via a local socket connection; creating, by the network access program, an XML formatted request in response to the file system request, the XML formatted request including a uniform resource identifier that uniquely identifies a directory of the file stored in the remote file system; forwarding, by the network access program, the XML formatted request to a TCP/IP transport layer of the operating system, which transmits the XML formatted request to an appropriate XML enabled Web server based on the URI; receiving, by the network access program via the TCP/IP transport layer of the operating system, a response from the XML enabled Web server; and the network access program transferring via the local socket connection information contained in the response to the file system plug-in which forwards the response to the file system interface of the file system, wherein the information is presented as an ordinary file system response, wherein the file system requests are forwarded by the file system without knowledge of the application program, and wherein the application program is running independently with respect to the file system without requiring changes of the application program communicating with the file system.