Have you read my sentences? The Microsoft App is not the same as the Microsoft OS. MS does not yet force you to use Outlook (unless you use an MS email account). MS has done this before. Remember Outlook Express? Much better than “Mail” is. Microsoft, Apple and Google all drop products that people rely on without affecting the underlying OS (Quicktime, Cyberdog, Safari for Windows, Plays for Sure, non-Chromium IE/Edge, Google Notebook, Chromecast)
Linux doesn’t do any of that proprietary stuff. If you want to use 20 year old 32 bit app versions on a 64 bit machine you can. It is supported.