Anyway, if you are writing a local socket application, then you would not have this problem, since it wouldn't have any IE dependancy. I tend to use local sockets and network oriented design techniques for IPC because they transition cleanly to networked applications when the need arises. Also they are very portable, as compared to something like memory mapped files, which are a Linux/Unix thing. Another option (maybe, depending on how you like the complexity, might be POE)

One thing you have to watch for (not in this case I'm sure), though is whether a user running an application on the same machine (i.e. Linux remote users and/or Windows terminal server) can't play with the app. Local sockets bridge user boundaries, and hence can be dangerous if you don't build in the right protocols.

Nice SG1 quote by the way, but IMHO nothing can beat Tealc's "Untamed equines couldn't drag me away..."