The Unnecessary Complexity of Microsoft 365 & Outlook Classic: A UX Admin Nightmare for BYOD
I recently needed to remove a corporate Exchange account from a personal device running Microsoft 365. What should have been a one-click action exposed a deeply flawed and convoluted architecture: Primary Account Lock: Outlook Classic fundamentally prevents the removal of a "Primary Account" from its GUI. The only functional workaround is completely destroying the Outlook profile via the Control Panel or Registry. MDM Overreach on BYOD: When adding a work account, MDM and Entra ID policies immediately override local user control. There is zero clear exit strategy or automated cleanup for the end-user when that corporate relationship ends. Monolithic Click-To-Run Architecture: Attempting to simply uninstall the obsolete Outlook Classic application is impossible through standard Windows settings. It required deploying the Office Deployment Tool (ODT) and executing a custom XML configuration script just to exclude a single application from the Microsoft 365 suite. This forced integration and lack of modularity is a highly anti-user experience. Microsoft must separate corporate security enforcement from personal device ownership and provide standard, modular uninstallation options for its desktop applications. Forcing users to use PowerShell and ODT for basic software management is an unacceptable standard for modern UX.