
Quoting
Mr. Knowitall
In my opinion, the guest worker program is a sham to get cheap employees for businesses who don't want to pay the market rate for labor, while avoiding giving the "guest worker" any immigration rights.
Your friend should keep working on the H1 angle, first because a "guest worker" program is about unskilled workers, and second because he would likely make a lot more money if admitted as a skilled worker than if admitted in a category meant for unskilled workers. (And even then, under legislation that is not even in final form, let alone part of U.S. law.)