Interesting piece up until the COM rant tangent. COM was brilliant. It was complex because what it did was complex. It provided a binary contact for unrelate

Interesting piece up until the COM rant tangent. COM was brilliant. It was complex because what it did was complex. It provided a binary contact for unrelated software packages to communicate. It was an absolute breeze to work with in VB, something I didn't appreciate in my C++ snob days. The problem with COM wasn't COM, it was the dominant 'serious' programming language of the day.