While I am disappointing, I'm not exactly surprised. I'm willing to bet that this is in response to the Windows 10 Mail App, which was a lightweight metro app that Microsoft depreciated to try to push people to use it's new outlook app. People hated it, so they downloaded older versions and shut off app updates. Eventually, Microsoft did a server side switch that essentially broke functionality on the old app with outlook emails, although other providers work fine (for now).

Simple. Dont use MS products. Also, turn off win updates and block them. It is your machine, not thiers.

Microsoft continues to enshittify Windows and it's accelerating. It's forcing me to seriously evaluate moving off Windows after three decades.

This means they can start enforcing options and turning things like telemetry back on with impunity. This is a sad state of affairs, when our devices’ operating systems become an increasingly hostile environment. Honestly, it’s time to start looking into switching to libre environments, before we are left with no alternatives.