I've written non-microsoft code that talks to non-microsoft code via COM. It was a painful experience, but you do in fact see it happen. I also know people who

I've written non-microsoft code that talks to non-microsoft code via COM. It was a painful experience, but you do in fact see it happen. I also know people who do this regularly, and seemingly fairly painlessly. I wouldn't call it a standard by any measure, more of an underdocumented and arcane mechanism.