Trying to advise a friend on Outlook use for Macs?

-and I unfortunately have no idea what I am talking about as I am a windows man.

That said, she owns a MAC but wants to start using Microsoft Office via Exchange (namely Outlook and Excel) for a new business that she is starting.

What are her options here?

 

Microsoft has the Home and Business version called Office 2011 for Mac. Comes with Outlook and it works the same as the Windows version with full compatibility. Though they both use that ugly ribbon interface, the UI is actually better on the Mac.
You can check it out here. Office for Mac : Simplify Your Work | Office For Mac

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/outlook

 

Thanks!

And this is compatible with Exchange?

 

Yes, it's fully compatible with Exchange. Actually Mac OS X is already fully compatible with Exchange 2007 on up without any version of Office but if your GF wants to use Outlook she will be just fine.

 

Excellent. Thank you.

 

Yep, fully compatible with Exchange and MUCH easier to configure and maintain than Entourage. I never had a problem with Entourage for personal use, but it was sometimes a pain getting it to work all the time with Exchange.

 

Outlook for Mac is a fantastically mediocre program. It is not comparable to its Windows counterpart. Microsoft claims that it's fully Cocoa, but it's the one program in the Office suite that constantly manages to beachball every time I use it (with Exchange 2007).

Mail.app and iCal is a much, much, much better combination if you can live with the limited calendaring and mail functions.