DX (DirectDraw+DirectSound+DirectNetwork) had support added for IDL - basically making an AX wrapper for DX native parts. However, MFC encompassed the entire me

DX (DirectDraw+DirectSound+DirectNetwork) had support added for IDL - basically making an AX wrapper for DX native parts. However, MFC encompassed the entire message pump, which winforms just consume (unless additional code is added). I do remember delivering an ATL-MFC COM component that had interop with .NET some time around 2000. It would have also had some additional OLE code too, but at the copy+paste feature was removed sometime mid-project. If your code needed access to a keyboard, the screen, the network AND wanted to be able to use it as a library this was the only "sane" way to do it. The overlap and confusion was insane, and it hasn't stopped.