When we speak of objects from a Microsoft perspective, we are referring to objects written in compliance with The Component Object Model, or COM.  The Active Server  platform consists largely of objects written in this way.

Several server-based runtime environments, one being IIS, host these objects and provide you and I with the capability to exploit script-based web technologies and the power of assorted original and third-party software components based on COM.

COM is actually a specification.  It primarily defines how objects are created and how you interact with them.  Sounds like a very broad specification - right?  Well, not really.

The COM specification actually defines many aspects of Microsoft's object platform.  The complete specification can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/com.  

COM is important to you for several reasons.  The first reason is reuse.  Your COM components can be used not only in the Active Server Page environment, but with Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++ and other languages as well.

Second, COM is important because, like other object oriented strategies, it allows you to encapsulate the complexity of a process and its underlying data structures.

Encapsulation is an important aspect of COM.  The ASP engine uses COM and encapsulation to provide access, via object technology, to a wide variety of information and functionality in the server environment.