title: Need help understanding why I should use COM
body: <p>I am having a tough time figuring out when I should use COM. I have done some reading but I simply cannot find a solid use-case for using it...I have browsed the internet trying to figure out <strong>when</strong> and <strong>why</strong> I should use it but the concept is simply too abstract and I don't understand it.</p>
  <p>I get how using COM is interesting when it comes to writing code which can be consumed from various programming languages that support COM (<a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1645838/what-is-the-component-object-model-com-is-it-language-dependent">What is the Component Object Model (COM)? Is it language-dependent?</a>). But I would love to get a few solid examples of when COM was used and why it couldn't have been done realisticaly in another way.</p>
  <p>Could someone list a few solid / real-world examples where using COM makes more sense that writing a DLL
  which exports functionality through traditional functions if you put aside the multi-language aspect of COM ?</p>
  <p>I know for instance that COM is used heavily in development which gravitates around Microsoft Office products...Why is this ?</p>