Actually, I build apps for many Fortune 500's and they deploy Active-X all the time. Most programmers shun from it because of security fears. Most large organizations realize you can do just as much damage with JavaScript so security is an issue no matter how you develop client-side code. Most programmer also tend to stay away from Active-X because it is purely a Microsoft solution and back when Netscrape was a viable browser they wanted to accommodate everyone. Nowadays Netscrape is virtually dead so this is less an issue.
Another reason web programmers avoided Active-X is because it is complicated, required compiling, and required more thought in distribution. It's easy once you've done it though. What takes you months to build in JavaScript can be built quickly and efficiently in Active-X and all your code is sealed from prying eyes.
Active-X is definitely not to be used lightly because of the deployment considerations, but, let's face it, Microsoft didn't invent it for nothing. It has its place. This thread was trying to determine how someone could hide client-side code and Active-X is extremely viable if you meet the conditions I pointed out earlier as well as if your not afraid of working in a compiled language. ;-)