ActiveX, A Standard?
By Michael Floyd
—So, tell me about ActiveX. Isn't it just OLE for the Internet?
—Wrong, Java breath. ActiveX is a new API that, like OLE, is based on Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM). While OLE supports a compound document architecture for desktops, ActiveX is designed specifically to embed rich media objects within Web-based documents.
This was part of a scene that recently played out in the offices at Web Techniques. OK. maybe I've embellished a bit (I wasn't referred to as "Java breath"). But, unlike the legions of companies that typically parade through the editorial offices to show off their wares, Microsoft marketers arrived on our doorstep not for the standard dog-and-pony show, but specifically to "debunk the myths" surrounding ActiveX technologies.
There was no Java bashing, nor swipes at Sun. But clearly, Microsoft was taking a defensive posture. And the marketers had a bevy of answers to questions I never thought (or cared) to ask. How does ActiveX compete with Java? It doesn't—Java is a language, ActiveX is an integration technology. OK. I didn't ask, but now that you bring it up, isn't this a bit of misdirection? After all, Java taken en toto is a complete platform that potentially includes the Java OS, an object-oriented component architecture, the language and runtime, and database connectivity through JDBC.
Microsoft was reacting to attempts in the press to paint a battle over ActiveX versus Java. But this trivializes the problem and generally misses the point.
