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Rating: 
Summary: One of my 2 favorite books
Review: I got the 1st edition of this book when it came out, and will get the next edition when it comes out. The book is exactly what it claims to be; I see some negative remarks in previous reviews saying that this book is a workbook and that other books have more detail. They may have more details (debateble), but don't cut right to the bone with critical info like this book does. The info per page ratio is very high. This book is not for the windows or c/c++ beginner, but is for the COM beginner. (FYI to a previous review, COM/ActiveX are essentially the same thing, OLE is based upon these, and the book doesn't cover any "OLE" technology like linking, embedding etc... and clearly states so at the beginning)This is a good solid book for a person wishing to teach themselves COM from the basics up using practical examples. As an aside, I was the lead developer for a successful commercial MFC/C++ class library that used COM, and this book was essential to the development of those parts of the project. Interestingly enough, some competitors of this product had certain bugs; the solution to which was in this book! Final thoughts: This is one of my favorite books along with Programming Windows with MFC by Jeff Prosise (had to give it a plug!)
Rating: 
Summary: Uncluttered and spare, very fundamental
Review: My favorite COM book. This book is about code. Each page presents or discusses code samples. Each paragraph focuses on one topic and covers it concisely. It is refreshing in a world of excessive prose. Warning: this book approaches COM as Petzold approaches Windows, at the very base level. It is a good book on fundamentals but won't teach you that much about CComObject, for example. Fine with me, fundamentals are important.
Rating:
Summary: Uncluttered and spare, very fundamental
Review: My favorite COM book. This book is about code. Each page presents or discusses code samples. Each paragraph focuses on one topic and covers it concisely. It is refreshing in a world of excessive prose. Warning: this book approaches COM as Petzold approaches Windows, at the very base level. It is a good book on fundamentals but won't teach you that much about CComObject, for example. Fine with me, fundamentals are important.
Rating:
Summary: Good hands-on examples of writing ActiveX (OLE) components
Review: This book gives provides good hands-on examples of writing ActiveX (OLE) controls. It focuses on OLE, covering COM from the OLE perspective. Lots of examples with good explanations. Platt offers some refreshingly practical information about ActiveX control development. He seems to have lots of real-world experience with the technology. The organization of the book is somewhat quirky. It is built around the example code.
Rating: 
Summary: The book failed explain anything
Review: This book has been written more than 2 years ago, and it's about OLE, not COM. In its 2nd edition it was renamed to include the words COM and ActiveX, and a few chapters were added at the end. Looking for a book about COM and ActiveX?. Look somewhere else!.
Rating: 
Summary: May get you started... But
Review: This book is simple, well organized, and easy to read. HOWEVER, that is the book's downside. If you need to write a COM application your going to need more detailed books. Those detailed books will cover what this covers in the first few chapters. "Learning DCOM", "Inside COM+" are places to start
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