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Microsoft COM

Commenters frequently compare the article's technology to Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM), highlighting its role in Windows APIs, cross-language interoperability, and historical significance.

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Top Contributors

pjmlp (316) int_19h (22) DonHopkins (16) mike_hearn (15) p_l (13)

Keywords

COM OK OLE AWT MFC OO VB DDE IDL IPC com windows apartment threaded microsoft struct tooling component components net

Sample Comments

_pmf_ • Jul 22, 2016 • View on HN

Microsoft's COM probably exists because of this.

pjmlp • Feb 20, 2020 • View on HN

Ah, just like VB did with COM....

phaedrus • Apr 10, 2023 • View on HN

Sounds like how Windows COM (Component Object Model) works.

TazeTSchnitzel • Aug 22, 2015 • View on HN

Windows isn't built on COM, Windows is built on Win32 which is a 1980s API hurriedly updated to 32-bit.

frik • Apr 28, 2015 • View on HN

It's not about COM.COM is: "Unlike C++, COM provides a stable ABI that does not change between compiler releases. This makes COM interfaces attractive for object-oriented C++ libraries that are to be used by clients compiled using different compiler versions." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_ModelOthers are talking about the compound document

d--b • May 8, 2024 • View on HN

This sounds very much like COM. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model

up-n-atom • Aug 27, 2023 • View on HN

Feel free to correct me but am I getting COM (Component Object Model) vibes...

mike_hearn • Oct 13, 2025 • View on HN

OK, go use Windows then, it's the dream architecture you always wanted ;)https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/com/com-tech...

mike_hearn • Jan 30, 2023 • View on HN

COM is several things. Although COM on its own always means Microsoft's version and they invented it, there have been quite a few reinventions over time. Mozilla uses/used their own version called XPCOM inside Firefox for example. It can be thought of as a standardized way to expose objects across languages, compilers, incompatible ABIs, processes and machines. It provides:1. A standardization of vtables and how to obtain/query them from objects.2. A standardized memory mana

pjmlp • Feb 2, 2019 • View on HN

The future of Windows APIs, aka COM Runtime.