How Do You Get up to Speed and Stay Afloat?

As you can see, you're expected to know a mountain of information. You should start by getting a solid understanding of COM: how it works and why. Everything that Microsoft is working on is based on COM. Lots of things will start falling into place once you understand how this technology puts everything together.

You must expect the landscape of COM and COM+ to be always changing. Keeping yourself up to speed on the technology can be daunting, but try to be optimistic and see these changes as a necessary and positive part of an evolutionary process. The good news is that the core aspects of COM won't change. These are the parts of COM that allow programmers to achieve higher levels of reusability, maintainability, and extensibility. Once you understand these core aspects, you will be prepared for whatever else comes your way.