Sounds a lot like OS/400 in my ears. A machine interface that virtualizes the hardware and a database on top of that which applications are built upon. So, maybe not that new of an idea?
its called IBM i these days. DB2 originally didnt have a name because it was part of OS/400... Later DB2 name was applied and standalone versions released. "IBM i" is basically DB2OS if we want to talk about flipping the paradigm