Forget the rest, just go with Chrome. I have told quite a few people this and they never go back so maybe it is my fault that it is growing so fast

Personally, I think email clients are old hat these days and don't bother even installing Outlook anymore. My email client of choice is Gmail via Google Apps for business. Cost $50 per account per year but $100 for me and my wife is well spent.

Having said all that, I still use IE and Outlook at work because we are very much into bed with Microsoft on our network.