These are some "short-take" COM-based application launchers I've written. Only slightly useful, but they're great for path-independent application startup.
With CreateObject("Access.Application")
.Visible = True: .UserControl = True: End With
'xl.vbs
'launches Excel
With CreateObject("Excel.Application")
.Workbooks.Add:.Visible = True:End With
Set Mmc = CreateObject("MMC20.Application")
Mmc.Show
Mmc.UserControl = True
Sub MakeNetMeetingCall(Host)
' Starts Netmeeting and calls Host
With CreateObject("NetMeeting.App")
.UnDock
.CallTo(Host)
End Sub
'ppt.vbs
'launches PowerPoint automatically
CreateObject("PowerPoint.Application").Visible = True
CreateObject("Publisher.Application").ActiveWindow.Visible = True
CreateObject("Vim.Application")
CreateObject("Word.Application").Visible = True