The only reason I can think of that would make Outlook load faster than OE is because: A: you've got allot of main in your inbox, sent items, drafts, etc.. B: you have Office load in your startup group.. C: you're using Outlook allot and Windows has prioritized it on the disk for it to look faster D: some combination of the three..
Not knocking your choice ^hyd^ - to each his own I say - but Outlook is notorious for it's bloat. All things being equal OE should load faster..
In Outlooks defense I think you can have Multiple identies in Outlook 2002.. It's own of the new features..