Rating: 
Summary: You will need a PhD in COMology to understand
Review: WOW!!! This book is hard to follow with nothing tangible to the typical VC++/MFC programmer. The word on the street is Box does not even acknowledge MFC exists. That is very evident in this almost useless book. What I could stay awake through, I understood almost nothing. MFC makes COM so much easier, Try looking for an MFC COM book for something pratical.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing else truly explains the "Why" of COM
Review: Some woodworkers are content to read books on "100 router tricks" and "50 cool projects you can build with your table saw". Those who would be masters of the craft read books on how to select wood for a particular purpose, or when to use a particular type of join, or how to design a piece of furniture for a specific purpose.There are dozens of COM books of the first type. There's only one of the second. This is it. There are a lot of books that will tell you how to develop COM applications. Most of them are aimed at the journeyman programmer who is capable of following directions and making small extensions to cookie-cutter sample apps. They serve this need quite well. Don's book isn't aimed at that sort of person, and doesn't fill that need. If you need to understand why COM looks the way it does, or how COM grew, or what its underlying philosophies are, or if you need to deeply understand the whole COM paradigm, Essential COM contains the answers. COM is full of jargon; terms that convey only a small amount of information themselves. The richness of an object model relies upon the abstractions that serve as its foundation; if you don't understand the abstractions, you can't really apply the model creatively. Sure, the sample code gets pretty deep, and does so rather quickly. Take the time read the samples, and understand them; consider them "exercises for the reader". There is much to be learned from them. Yeah, the macros get deep, too. COM is layer upon layer of abstraction; the implementation is layer upon layer of code. Macros help flatten that out; they keep the programming level of abstraction high enough that one can see a forest rather than an endless collection of trees. Understand them when they're introduced; take the time to work through the code. Then use them without worry. Is this book truly "essential"? Depends on what you think that means. Does it describe the essence of COM? You bet. Can one write COM apps without it? Probably. But they won't be the most efficient, or the best designed, and they won't make the best use of the technology.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent description of both the why and the how of COM
Review: The introduction alone, in which Mr. Box derives the motivation for COM from shortcomings in current object-oriented programming models, is worth the price of the book. By gaining insight into the why of COM, you can better predict its future development. It has completely changed the way I look at writing software.
Rating: 
Summary: The author is a COM master, but at times that is a problem.
Review: Obviously, Don Box is a COM and C++ master, which is where the problem lies. Admittedly, he does cover many aspects of COM quite extensively. The first chapter is the best background material on COM that I have read. But thereafter, Box changes his approach. He then seems to lapse into gratuitous, uncontollable programming razzle-dazzle when covering COM topics. His multi-page macros are just plain confusing and distracting. [Who is his intended audience: COM neophytes or his COM cronies?] His explanations concerning his use of the subtleties of C++ are entirely too feeble. While COM is at heart a subtle C++ application, surely programming virtuosity can be de-emphasized when explaining COM basics. His examples have questionable utility. However, again, his book does fill in some of the gaps of COM that other books gloss over. But I'm still waiting for that five-star book on COM.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read, good coverage of motivations for COM.
Review: Having been involved in the CORBA world for the past two years, it has been nice to come up for air and look at another object model. Don Box does a great job presenting COM as a good mechanism for code and interface reuse in a multiplatform world. The book is rather intellectual though, read it twice! Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not much useful when comparing with other com book
Review: When comparing with books like 'inside com' & 'Beginning ATL com', I found this book is hard to follow. Although sometimes it provides some few good insight, it can't clearly explain the detail's of COM and the chapters are not very well organized.
Rating:
Summary: A great book about how COM works
Review: After working with COM for some time one comes to wonder about how COM actually works. Don Box really explains the machinery behind COM in an excellent way. Apart from basic COM concepts such as interfaces and classes, hard-to-grasp areas like marshalling and security are discussed in a way even mortal people can understand!
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recomended with one exception...
Review: A very, very good programming resource I recomend it to anyone I know who is doing or plans to do COM programming. Beginners might find "Inside COM" a bit more their speed but for advanced programmers there's nothing better. My one criticism is of the "petulant child" they got to write the (first) forward.
Rating:
Summary: THE only COM book you will ever need.
Review: I found this book a breath of fresh air when it comes to explaining what is probably best described as a difficult subject. Don starts with the fundamentals and really hits the nail on the head in explaining COM without worrying about going into the various implementation libraries that are out there (the main on being ATL of course). I program using ATL, and now I feel that I understand what is going on. An absolute must for all COM programmers.
Rating:
Summary: Useful for intermediate and advanced users
Review: Beginning COM programmers will find it very difficult to follow. This is currently the most authoritative book on the subject. Unfortunately, the book is excruciating to read - the jargon will make you dizzy. There are no tutorials and few complete examples. Mr. Box knows the subject well and covers the material very thoroughly.
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