Abstract: Computer systems (useful primarily for personal and workgroup productivity) storing content into application independent objects organized in a hierarchical structure where each object is associated with one or more hierarchical nodes and is linked to a set of characteristics including attributes and applications that can be invoked to perform defined actions on the object's content. An application programming interface (API) is provided for the development of applications aimed at performing actions on the objects. Objects are preferably stored as records in database repositories which can be locally or remotely (e.g., cloud) located.