Rick,

>Interesting 'analysis' and I resent having technology, that has proven itself in a huge number of real world apps, called a 'hack'.

I have not used ActiveVFP, so I cannot comment on its technology model, but I can certainly attest to the usability of the EXE approach from a remote management point of view.

Having installed several WC projects in various locations (always in COM mode), I cannot imagine having to maintain them any other way. I love the ability to just FTP a new EXE to an update directory, click the admin link, and have the system shut down the COM server(s), copy in the new EXE, and restart everything while holding requests for the few seconds involved.

That feature alone has made some of those projects efficient and much less stressful - once I got the DCOM settings and impersonation set correctly. :-)