if i "early-bind" an object, does it need to be prsent in the deployment m/c?

[crptcblade]

If you have early binding to an object, then the component won't even start. I'm not sure if it will prevent the entire app to run, or if it will crash at the first reference of your DLL.

If it is late bound, then the app will crash when you try to reference it with CreateObject. At that point you can use error handling.