Although I haven't really done much in VB, or with any other MS SDKs, I'm pretty sure you could launch Outlook from code. Check out these threads:
http://www.infopathdev.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=958
http://www.infopathdev.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=213
Something to the effect of
var obj = new ActiveXObject( Outlook.Application );
obj.Launch();
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Matt Faus
Matt Faus / Microsoft InfoPath MVPQdabra® Software / Streamline data gathering to turn process into knowledge