The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

ActiveX

    A type of COM component that can
   self-register, also known as an "ActiveX control".  All COM
   objects implement the "IUnknown" interface but an ActiveX
   control usually also implements some of the standard
   interfaces for embedding, user interface, methods, properties,
   events, and persistence.

   ActiveX controls were originally called "OLE Controls", and
   were required to provide all of these interfaces but that
   requirement was dropped, and the name changed, to make ActiveX
   controls lean enough to be downloaded as part of a web page.

   Because ActiveX components can support the OLE embedding
   interfaces, they can be included in web pages.  Because they
   are COM objects, they can be used from languages such as
   Visual Basic, Visual C++, Java, VBScript.

   ["Understanding ActiveX and OLE", David Chappell, MS Press,
   1996].

   (http://microsoft.com/com/tech/activex.asp).

   (2002-04-19)