The TaskPane does not rely on Outlook. My guess is the problem is in your MSXML installation. Check to see if you can create an instance of the XML parser:
oXML = CREATEOBJECT("MSXML2.DOMDocument.4.0")
>Windows XP in both cases. I suspect that Outlook is somehow related as it is not behaving quite as it should.
>
>Regards
Ryan Katri
COB System Designs, Inc.