diff --git a/include/boost/numeric/ublas/config.hpp b/include/boost/numeric/ublas/config.hpp
index 05b73973..5a7e7e17 100644
--- a/include/boost/numeric/ublas/config.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/numeric/ublas/config.hpp
@@ -48,11 +48,13 @@
 #pragma warning (disable: 4503)
 #pragma warning (disable: 4786)
 
+// Member friend syntax works but lookup sometime fails on VC7
+#define BOOST_UBLAS_NO_MEMBER_FRIENDS
 // Base traits templates syntax not supported
 #define BOOST_UBLAS_NO_ITERATOR_BASE_TRAITS
-// MSVC doesn't always accept the 'typename' keyword.
+// MSVC doesn't always accept the 'typename' keyword
 #define BOOST_UBLAS_TYPENAME
-// MSVC doesn't accept the 'using' keyword (at least for importing base members).
+// MSVC doesn't accept the 'using' keyword (at least for importing base members)
 #define BOOST_UBLAS_USING
 // MSVC doesn't support long double
 #define BOOST_UBLAS_NO_LONG_DOUBLE
diff --git a/include/boost/numeric/ublas/storage.hpp b/include/boost/numeric/ublas/storage.hpp
index f628a397..7b64812a 100644
--- a/include/boost/numeric/ublas/storage.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/numeric/ublas/storage.hpp
@@ -1642,9 +1642,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace numeric { namespace ublas {
     void swap(index_pair<V> lhs, index_pair<V> rhs) {
         lhs.swap(rhs);
     }
-#endif
 
-#if defined (BOOST_UBLAS_NO_MEMBER_FRIENDS) || defined (BOOST_MSVC)
     template<class V>
     BOOST_UBLAS_INLINE
     bool operator == (const index_pair<V>& lhs, const index_pair<V>& rhs) {
@@ -1829,9 +1827,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace numeric { namespace ublas {
     void swap(index_triple<M> lhs, index_triple<M> rhs) {
         lhs.swap(rhs);
     }
-#endif
 
-#if defined (BOOST_UBLAS_NO_MEMBER_FRIENDS) || defined (BOOST_MSVC)
     template<class M>
     BOOST_UBLAS_INLINE
     bool operator == (const index_triple<M>& lhs, const index_triple<M>& rhs) {
@@ -1840,7 +1836,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace numeric { namespace ublas {
     template<class M>
     BOOST_UBLAS_INLINE
     bool operator != (const index_triple<M>& lhs, const index_triple<M>& rhs) {
-        return lhs.equal(rhs);
+        return !lhs.equal(rhs);
     }
     template<class M>
     BOOST_UBLAS_INLINE