Lens Help for a New Photographer

Probably. It's a fantastic lens: sharp, bright (meaning that its lowest f/number is f/1.8; lower gives you more light, but less depth of field, which actually makes portraits look better), small, and focuses fast.

Another one you might consider is the Panasonic 25 f/1.4 (see below). It will give you a wider angle of view, perhaps less convenient for some things (you'll need to be closer), but giving a different perspective.

You can use macro lenses for other things, too. The 60mm is a perfectly ordinary 60mm lens, just one that can focus very closely.

By using the 60mm, you'd lose a little bit of autofocus speed. You'd also lose some of the low-light capability; the 60mm is f/2.8, while the 45mm is f/1.8. f/2.8 is less than half as "bright" as f/1.8. You'd gain the ability to focus very closely. It's also got a narrower angle of view -- this is a good or a bad thing, depending.

Not much of one. But what your friend meant, probably, was "get a *normal* lens", meaning a lens with an angle of view that gives a perspective roughly the same as what the eye sees. On film, 50mm lenses give this perspective, and many photographers advocate them as a first lens because they "see the way you see". On Micro Four Thirds, though, the sensor is only half as big as a film negative, so "normal" on m4/3 is 25mm. There is in fact one of those; the Panasonic 25 f/1.4, and it is very good (if expensive). A 50mm lens (or 45mm) isn't "normal"; it's a short telephoto, in a range that is very good for portraits, which is what Olympus intended the 45/1.8 for.