So, in technological terms, it’s ancient.
However, ActiveX eventually became a security threat that the tech giant’s engineers are understandably trying to remove.
Despite being nearly 30 years old, Microsoft still supports ActiveX in Windows.
Microsoft deprecated the technology long ago, but some of the most popular Win32 applications use it.
The Microsoft 365 Admin Center recently published awarningthat developers would soon disable ActiveX controls in Office applications by default.
The change will affect Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio.
The target date for Office 2024 is October 2024, while Microsoft 365 apps have until April 2025.
Microsoft plans to release the next stand-alone upgrade for Office 2024 this year.
Once the changes occur, users can no longer create or interact with ActiveX objects in Office documents.
Some existing ActiveX controls will be visible as static images, but no further action will be possible.
There will be no visible indications about the sudden death of ActiveX controls except for non-commercial Office suite SKUs.
The new default setting is equivalent to the DisableAllActiveX setting in the Group Policy snap-in tool.
Widely used in Internet Explorer, ActiveX has long become a risky relic of a bygone technology era.
Programmers and companies would be better off replacing and abandoning the framework altogether.
