Apple Mac Books work perfectly without any software from Microsoft.
The best software for a support desk in my opinion would be Microsoft Office. With Microsoft Office, you have Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Microsoft Office offers everything you need for a business.
For business data communications and networking, the software that is required are Microsoft Office (including Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and so on) and a networking software (various different brands).
You need to go to the Microsoft website. On there you will need to navigate to the Microsoft Silverlight page and then look for the latest version of the software and download it.
Microsoft just recently invested in customer service software this year. The software is called 24/7 and is sold to businesses with a need for self-service voice response.
Microsoft has their download system and Apple users of iPod have a separate system. If you have a Microsoft branded music player then you need to go to a Microsoft site nad follow the instructions
To get MSN Messenger on a Mac you need to download the MSN Messenger software (see link below).
Yes you do in fact need a license to install Microsoft software onto your computer. It should come with the CD, and is called a product key. They can be used for up to 5 different computers.
Actually, Microsoft has a site dedicated to their government software. You should be able to find what you need there. Accela specializes in government software. They should have anything you need.
Microsoft have never supported Access on the Mac. This is generally considered a good thing. If you have to use the diabolical Access you will need ODBC drivers such as those from Actual Technologies (See links below) or, depending what you are trying to do - amount and complexity of data etc., you may be able to export from Access in an SQL usable form and import that into suitable database software on the Mac.
Software Update automatically checks for any updates to the Apple software, both system software and applications, installed on an Apple Mac computer. If there are updates available it will offer the opportunity to install the updates now or later. For some software the Mac will need to be restarted to complete the installation. Software Update can be found from the Apple menu in the top left corner.
Microsoft offers the newest version of its security software from its website, under downloads. You do not need to buy it; it should come as a free download.
You don't "need" it, there are plenty of free software suites that do the same as office, but microsoft office is the standard these days, and most documents are made to work with it.