Available, scalable, and tunable document-oriented storage services

A system for interfacing applications, on a device having a processor, with documents, the system comprising:

• a memory on the device that stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, provide:
• a runtime set comprising runtimes that respectively access documents according to performance characteristics that are specific to a context including a location of each document relative to the device, wherein the runtimes comprise:
• a device storage runtime that accesses documents according to performance characteristics for documents that are stored on the device;
• and
• a remote storage runtime that accesses documents according to performance characteristics for documents that are accessible to the device over a wide-area network;
• and
• a runtime selector comprising instructions stored on the device that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to fulfill a request from at least one of the applications to access a document by:
• identifying, by the device, a context of the requested document including a location of the requested document relative to the device;
• and
• invoking, by the device, a selected runtime of the runtime set associated with the context including the location of the requested document relative to the device to access the requested document.

A device that executes applications interfacing with documents, the device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing:
• a runtime set comprising runtimes that respectively access documents according to performance characteristics that are specific to a context including a location of each document relative to the device, wherein the runtime set comprises:
• a device storage runtime that accesses documents according to performance characteristics for documents that are stored on the device;
• and
• a remote storage runtime that accesses documents according to performance characteristics for documents that are accessible to the device over a wide-area network;
• and
• a runtime selector comprising instructions stored on the device that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to fulfill a request from at least one of the applications to access a document by:
• identifying, by the device, a context of the requested document including a location of the requested document relative to the device;
• and
• invoking, by the device, a selected runtime of the runtime set associated with the context including the location of the requested document relative to the device to access the requested document.