>Is outlook the right tool for this job or is there something better?\

I wouldn't use Outlook here. It requires the existance of... Outlook. Why would you want to limit your app to that for something as simple as sending an email?

You can use the MAPI controls used with a Simple Mapi Client (if you need resources, which may not be the case) check out like Doug Hennig's FoxTalk arcitles or Nigel's MAPI class), or even simpler, wwIPStuff.