ActiveX is a component object moel (COM) developed by Microsoft for Windows platforms. By using the COM runtime, developers can create software components that perform a particular function or a set of functions. A software can then compose one or more components in order to provide the functionality it intends to. Many Microsoft Windows applications - including many of those from Microsoft such as Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual Studio, Windows Media Player etc - use ActiveX controls to build their feature set as well as encapsulate their functionality as ActiveX controls so that the functionality can be embedded in other applications. Internet Explorer also allows the ActiveX controls to be embedded inside web pages.