Is .NET/COM Interop a reliable product?

[David L]

I am thinking of using COM Interop to have my application to use both
..NET and VB6 and communicate with each other. It does not matter
whether the user should go into VB6 or Winforms to start the
application.

These are planned use of services in both environments:
1) VB6 to handle communication with other applications not in .NET
environment, such as use of VBA to automate word, WinAPI to
communicate with another VB6 application;
2) VB6 to host 3rd party OCX (e.g. Crystal, TrueDBGrid). This way no
need to use expensive and probably evolving components in the .NET
world;
3) .NET to handle access (including update) to database. In future
there may be a need to have XML or SOAP based interface;
4) .NET to manage business objects that may be server based.

The application I have in mind does not need transaction management,
not too many concurrent users, and have average expectations in terms
of response time.

Has anyone done pilot projects to assess the reliability and
completeness of COMInterOp functionalities?

Thanks in advance for sharing your insights and experience.

David
12Nov 2003