>1) Do you know of another way to obtain a reference to a com object?

I am only familiar with GetObject(), CreateObject() and CreateObjectEX().

>2) CreateObjectEX() returns a reference to the task (created) on another computer. Is it possible too obtain a usable reference to a process on another computer?

I've not tried this but you could try CreateObjectEX() to kick off a process on a remote box, and then have that process act as a proxy to an already running instance of another process by using GetObject(). You are now pretty much beyond my sphere of experience out there in the delta quadrant - good luck getting home!