Outlook 2007 Address Book/ Contact Lists are useless

I've been a long time user of Outlook, but it was today that I really began to question it's usefulness. I created an email, but couldn't remember the name of the person who it needed to go to. So I clicked the "To:" button and up came the "address book". Now, the address book is different from your contact list in Outlook.  The address book is a different application, part of Windows, not Office/Outlook.
This address book contained the contact's name, display name and E-mail address... which might have been enough if the search function worked, but it doesn't really. I tried to search for the term "mod" since the person I was emailing's address is @modbee.com .  "Your search yielded no results." Ok... it's only searching in the name field, so I select "more columns", search again... same thing.  Round and round.

I Google the issue and find out two things. There's no fix, never has been, the MS certified bozos just say "go to your contacts and..." BUT I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO. I shouldn't have to get out of the window I'm in to go hunt down a name in another window. Just give me the thorough contact list to begin with and abandon this silly address book junk! Secondly, there's no way to add columns to the address book, say "company name", nor to search them from that button click.  Why the To: button doesn't bring up the contact list, who knows?

I've read that 2010 works the same way. I think I'm going to need a better email client pronto.