Are there any alternatives to Serviced Components (COM+) in .NET?
I am looking for an on-demand (not always-running like Windows Service) manageable components to be hosted by the OS and be accessible locally (no requirement for remote connections).
If you want it hosted out-of-process by the OS (i.e. with ability to change the runtime identity, etc), then COM+ is the closest fit. Other than that... connect to a service (such as WCF or POX) on a local IIS instance? Massively overkill etc... but in some ways, easier to deploy: once the IIS app exists, you can robocopy updates to the folder (which isn't an option with COM+).
I'd probably go COM+ here unless I needed that ability!