This is probably a bug in wine. If possible, try with some older wine versions in a new wineprefix (.wine folder), easiest way is to move/delete .wine folder, if the issue won't arise with an older wine, then please file a bug and describe it as regression. As a workaround you might try to install Internet Explorer 6 or 7 using "winetricks ie6" (just a guess, the error message from above may be misleading, if wine's COM implementation is at fault, installing IE will be completely useless). Even if it works with an installed IE, you probably should still file a bug.
