1. A method, implemented on a computer system with an operating environment having both a user mode and a kernel mode, for providing a user mode application access to events that occur at a system device, the method comprising: receiving a first subscription message from an event subscription management module in response to a subscription request to be notified of events that occur at the system device from a user application, wherein the event subscription management module and user application both operate in the user module, and wherein the user application is external to the event subscription management module; translating information in the first subscription message to create a second subscription message; issuing the second subscription message to the system device's interface thereby subscribing to events occurring at the system device, the system device's interface operating in the kernel mode; and as events occur at the system device: receiving notification from the system device's interface that an event occurred; and issuing a notification message to the event subscription module for the user application indicating that the event occurred.