1. In a computer system using an operating system to provide access to hardware resources, wherein said operating system provides access to said hardware resources via a first code component, a method of replacing said first code component with a new code component while said operating system remains active and while said operating system provides continual availability to the hardware resources by applications operational in the computer system, and while said application call to said first component to perform defined functions, the method comprising using the computer system for: instantiating an instance of a new code component to replace said first code component; instantiating a mediator object; initiating a swapping operation; for the duration of the swapping operation, using the mediator object to intercept calls from the applications requesting the first code components to perform the defined functions, and using the mediator object to perform the requested functions; establishing a quiescent state for the first code component; transferring state from the first code component to the new code component; and swapping the new code component for the first code component including the steps of: identifying references to said first code component; replacing the identified references to said first code component with references to said new code component; and deallocating the first code component.