Windows - Embed Server et al.

Hello,

I am trying to decrypt some of the Windows bits of LO, namely OLE &  
ActiveX parts.

If I read correctly  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_Linking_and_Embedding, it says that  
OLE is an interface, mainly used in Windows, but which could be  
implemented everywhere.
When doing Insert/Object/OLE Object in LibO, we can see all our components  
here.
IIUC, LibO uses it to incorporate data coming from LibO components in  
another LibO component (same type or not). And it works under Windows &  
under Linux, which is smart.
So now, I have a full load of questions :)
1. Why the OLE components are not visible from other OLE-capable Windows  
apps like Wordpad ? Is it only an internal implementation which is only  
compatible to itself ?
2. When browsing the sources I found :
 - extensions/source/ole :  what does it do ?
 - extensions/source/activex : it should provide an activex of LibO. The  
README.txt states we should have a so_activex.dll we need to register but  
I don't find any dll in 3.5.2 which seems related to that. Is it still  
delivered ?
3. I tried to detect components in my system:
 - In DCOM config, I only see a LibreOffice Service Manager 1.0, which is  
related to soffice.exe.
 - From VC++2008Express, no .Net or COM component is detected. Is it  
normal ?
4. extensions/source/ole, extensions/source/activex & embedserv all  
require atl & mfc from Microsoft. How do you handle that under non-Windows  
OSes ?

Thanks in advance to the people who will answer :)

Best regards

--
Mat M