[retrodeviant]

yes, myphone.microsoft.com is an option for the future, yes their interface blows. PIM is also a future alternative. I think you're more worried about getting your contacts now, right? the only (admittedly crappy) option I can think of is to download the Outlook 2007 trial (or install it off the disk that should have come with your phone), sync up, get your contacts and immediately uninstall that giant hunk of bloatware email client. requiring Outlook is just another way to make sure we dole some more cash out to Microsoft, but luckily there are two good alternatives listed above.

I hope that works out for you.

*EDIT* Also, I would suggest using Revo uninstaller or a similar 3rd party uninstaller to remove Outlook. I run Win 7 rc1 and had a terrible time getting rid of outlook. It left something like 60 registry entries after a standard uninstall.