Last Updated on November 11, 2024 by Dave Farquhar
Sometimes, when dealing with Windows programming or Windows applications, you will find the acronym OLE. But what does OLE stand for, and what does it do? And this blog post, I will explain OLE and why it was important and still is, even though Microsoft doesn’t promote it any longer.
What Microsoft OLE stands for and what it does
Microsoft OLE stands for Object Linking and Embedding. We take it for granted today, but when it was introduced in 1990, it was a big big deal. An object is more than a piece of data in a document. It’s also the code that was capable of creating or editing that data. It provides the ability to build documents out of pieces of data from multiple applications and retain the ability to edit all of the individual elements.
In its most classic sense, Microsoft OLE is what allows you to copy a chart you made in Excel and paste it into PowerPoint and get more than just a static image of the chart.
Its best trick is allowing you to edit these objects in place. If you paste Excel data into Word or PowerPoint, and then double click inside that Excel data in Word or PowerPoint, you can still make changes to it. No need to go back to Excel, make changes, then put the data back in Word or Excel. The major advantage Microsoft Office had over its competitors was having this ability.
Competitors to OLE
Arguably OpenDOC was a better, cross-platform standard, but the dominance of Microsoft Windows and Office and Microsoft requiring OLE compatibility as part of its certification of an application’s Windows 95 compatibility ensured OLE would emerge the winner. It also caused problems for Lotus and Wordperfect because the final OLE specs for Windows 95 weren’t available until after Windows 95 and Office 95 were released. Not having fully 32-bit Windows 95 native office suites contributed to both of them being relegated to niche players after at one time rivaling Microsoft in size.
Is OLE still used?
Microsoft doesn’t promote OLE anymore, but the technology is still very much in use today. Microsoft still refers to it in programming documentation. While creating mixed documents may be the most obvious use for OLE, it’s also useful for creating GUI elements. Microsoft OLE is something end users take for granted these days. But it remains a useful tool for developers.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.