Does anybody know what the best way is to communicate between VB programs in two different networked computers?

I wanted to use DCOM and was reading all about ActiveX DLL components, but using them sounds messier than I like. It seams to me that in order to send a value from Program1 to Program2 using COM I would need to have:
1. Program1 run an in-process ActiveX DLL component
2. Program2 write to that component
3. The component in Program1 trigger an event in Program1 when a Timer in that component checks if Program2 has changed the value of a variable
4. Finally do the code that I want to in Program1 when that event is triggered from the in-process ActiveX DLL

That's getting more messy than I want it to be. Is there something I'm missing about this whole COM/DCOM thing?

Also, once I get past that part, how do I actually call to the component using DCOM through the network? Do I need to use a special file location or something?

On the other hand...

Is there something else that's easier or better to use than COM/DCOM, and ActiveX DLL components?

Please Inform

Thanks!

Bob K.