On new installations, I usually install Open Office and set it to save text files to an MS format by default. In office situations where Outlook is considered indispensable, I simply install the stand alone version of Outlook which can be found for about $50.
Until Mozilla Lightning is developed to the point where it can import PST files, this is probably what I will continue to do. At this point, it can import messages and contacts from Outlook but it is still in alpha.