MS ActiveX is a Web dead duck

Microsoft's ActiveX technology has no Web future, according to three-quarters of the Web masters that participated in a survey by US online service C-Net.

In the C-Net poll, 72 per cent of about 5,000 respondents believed that ActiveX had 'no future as a Web development tool'. Although internet users were among those questioned, the majority were Web developers, Web masters and other specialists.

The problems with ActiveX appear to be poor security, slowness and lack of openness, according to this survey. Many respondents believed that ActiveX was doomed by its dependence on Windows, which limits functionality for developers as well as cross-platform support.

'How typical of Microsoft to completely miss the point of Java - platform independence,' said Web master Andre Ferrer.

A representative for Microsoft said: 'ActiveX has a role on our overall strategy for Web development, but the whole picture and our strategy has become more complex since we launched ActiveX in 1996.'

All of Microsoft's recent distributed computing announcements have centred on the Common Object Model (Com), ActiveX's underlying model, rather than ActiveX itself. Most supporters of ActiveX claimed Com was simpler and more efficient than Java.