To join several software applications: Pronounced “oh-lay," OLE stands for "object linking and embedding," and it is a tool for joining several software applications. ActiveX refers to a special technology for inserting and exchanging data and programming code.

For example, suppose you are writing a sales report in a word processing program and yon embed in it a bar chart showing sales figures from a spreadsheet program. The beauty of OLE is that it remembers where that bar chart is stored and in what application it was created. Thus, if you enter new sales figures into your spreadsheet and the bar chart changes, OLE will supply the new chart to your sales report as well. OLE can merge results graphics, data, video clips, and so on from several different kinds of software applications.

Microsoft developed OLE to support documents that contain or reference other documents. Now it has evolved into a basic component of Windows NT, and also Windows 95/98, and has emerged as an industry standard.

Microsoft has improved Windows NT to the point where the company is now setting its sights on heavy-duty corporate computing. This means taking on the big networks that typically run Unix or mainframe software that can exchange data among thousands of users at once a task beyond-personal computing software until now. A benefit is that by using the Windows interface for many different strengths of machines, companies don't have to train employees to use a mix of operating systems. Analysts believe that, given Microsoft’s track record, it is just a matter of time before NT finds its way up the corporate ladder.