DCOM
This updates the article at:

DCOM for Not Yet Techies

Not much to add. Microsoft still uses DCOM in Windows
as its distributed object system -- a necessity with
networks and especially networks where users have
many different makes and models of computers, servers
and operating systems, especially the Internet.

According to some, DCOM is the weakness in Windows
which virus writers love to attack.

It began way back in the early 90s. Microsoft wanted
Windows and software applications to inter-operate. They
did this by "modularizing" Windows, breaking it into
components with well-defined interfaces.

This first version was called OLE / Object Linking
and Embedding. I remember using it to update one
Paradox database item through changing the data
in another (but connected) database. Made me feel
proud of myself :)

Later, OLE became COM / Component Object Model and
ActiveX and then DCOM / Distributed COM, starting
with Windows 98. The distributed part makes it
work over networks such as the Internet.

DCOM was therefore their answer to the efforts of
others to make CORBA / Common Object Request Broker
Language the industry standard for distributed
computing.

According to one site, DCOM is the security "hole" in
Windows which makes it the prime target for hackers
and virus writers.
- posted by RickStooker @ 11:16 AM (0) comments