WIRL for ActiveX was a late‑’90s gem for anyone deep in the Windows ecosystem, riding the wave when Microsoft’s ActiveX controls were the hot new way to make the web feel “interactive.” Dropping in around 1997, WIRL (Web Interactive Runtime Library) gave developers a plug‑and‑play way to embed rich media, animations, and even early streaming content into Internet Explorer without forcing users to download bloated software. Version 2.0 in 1999 tightened up performance and security—because by then, ActiveX exploits were starting to make headlines—while 2.5 in 2001 added better multimedia handling and Windows 2000/XP support. It was one of those tools that quietly powered tons of flashy corporate intranets, online games, and “cutting‑edge” websites before the world shifted to Flash, and eventually, JavaScript took the crown. If you were building for the web back then, WIRL was part of your toolkit whether you remember it or not.