ActiveX is only available on Windows. No Mac, no Unix, no Linux. There are many people which dont use (and dont want to use) MS Win. (like me). And Squeak itself can't provide Active-X (without containing a Windows-Emulator). So it will even be impossible to access such pages from within squeak...
It is true that ActiveX isn't available on all other platforms. That isn't the point. Alejandro has taken the *first* step in allowing us to use Squeak to deliver Web based applications in the same way that others use Java. As you point out, another component of the solution is to do a Netscape plugin. The ActiveX wrapper provides the same function for Internet Explorer as a Netscape plugin does for Netscape. Both browsers enjoy significant market share and are legitimate targets for embedding Squeak VM's.
I think we are probably going to need to figure out how to deliver applications in some form other than source code or as monolithic images. Then we can consider Squeak as an alternative to Java for this class of application.
-david