Our definition of OLE describes services as being "object-based." What does this mean exactly? What are "objects"—the communication medium between clients and servers—in the context of OLE? In order to answer this question, we have to look at all the various definitions of the term so we can really understand why an OLE object is what it is. The concepts that form the idea of an OLE object are collectively called the Component Object Model, or COM.
Object has to be one of the most bastardized, hackneyed, and confusing terms in the computer industry. Some argue over "real" and "fake" objects. There are academic uses of the term, end-user–oriented uses, and flat out common uses. Objects might refer to a methodology, specific techniques in object-oriented programming languages, or icons and other user-interface elements on a computer screen. Then, of course, you have philosophical wackos like me who will argue that the gold-plated Slinky on my desk and the model of the St. Louis Gateway Arch on my bookshelf are also objects.