[greenyoda]

A database is a good example. For example, a database engine might benefit from being able to read large raw blocks from a disk and directly optimizing its own disk seeks, rather than using the common abstraction of a file as being just a stream of bytes.

[nickpsecurity]

You're right: it was proven with the invention of object-based, disk storage that kept things simple. Think NoSQL key-value stores vs common SQL databases in performance. Eliminating complexity in the underlying mechanism while allowing the app to decide how it's used can certainly benefit performance.