Hi AL,
I see the same behavior here. My computer with Visual Studio it works, but I cannot make the ActiveX controls work on a machine that has never had Visual Studio on it. I receive the same error.
Taking a look at MSDN there are a couple documents
like this one hinting that you need Microsoft Office 97 Developer Edition to develop with the RichText ActiveX control.
The way I read this document, ODE97 and apparently Visual Studio install some additional registry keys and other items that allow this control to operate in development mode. Without knowing the details of MS's licensing I am not able to say much more. I would suggest contacting Microsoft and asking them what sort of software and license you need to develop with the RichText control.
Scott Y
NI