Why do enterprises use Outlook as their email client?

Is it because they subscribe to O365 and run Exchange as their email server anyway so they might as well use Outlook as the email client? I have tried to use it on my home machines on multiple occasions and compared to Gmail - which isn't a proper client -, I just hated it. I never could get used to the interface etc

You'll get a lot of different opinions on this. It's like anything else, a personal preference, of what a user likes and what features of an email app is important to them. I've tried many over the years and IMO ANY application designed to handle email is better than webmail. For me to be efficient, simple webmail is awkward and too basic.

I use Outlook 2021 to manage 4 email accounts, both imap and pop.. It interconnects not only with the other Office apps, but with Windows in general. It also easily allows me to store and organize email locally.

For someone who does just the basics of mail, webmail will suffice, but if one handles a lot of email, deals with multiple accounts, and wants to write more professional emails, webmail is totally inadequate. You need an app designed to do the job. From the very beginning, the Office suite of apps was designed for the corporate world. Consumers who wanted to up the money to use it was just a side benefit for MS.
As another poster stated, right now in the corporate world, 365 rules.

Some of it is historical. Back in the 90s, Exchange came with its own client (Exchange Mail Client Microsoft Exchange Client (corrected), or something like that). MSFT discontinued this in favor of Outlook, so that's what a lot of companies used. That carries a lot of momentum. Plus, as you said, they're already licensed for Office, which comes with Outlook, so there's an attitude of "why not?" The devil you know, I reckon.

Almost 15 years old, but still relevant:

10 Reasons to Use Microsoft Outlook for Your Company’s E-mail

pseymour said:

Some of it is historical. Back in the 90s, Exchange came with its own client (Exchange Mail Client Microsoft Exchange Client (corrected), or something like that). MSFT discontinued this in favor of Outlook, so that's what a lot of companies used. That carries a lot of momentum. Plus, as you said, they're already licensed for Office, which comes with Outlook, so there's an attitude of "why not?" The devil you know, I reckon support is, in fact, STANDARD with Outlook - starting with Outlook 95.

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(Outlook gained IMAP support with Outlook 98 - the out-of-cycle version of Outlook for Windows - there was only one version of Office in 1998 - for Apple Macs. Like the Windows iteration, it also included IMAP - however, the Windows iteration was free - in fact, it was distributed far and wide - largely by Ziff-Davis Publishing and other IT publishers.) The Exchange Mail Client was included with Windows 95/98/NT - Exchange Server was available for Windows NT Server. Between Windows - both 9x and NT - and Outlook 98 - Exchange clients grew like so many corn stalks.

Two years later, along came Microsoft 2000 - Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server. Office 2000 -all in the 2000 calendar year cycle - with Windows XP and Office 2001 for Mac a year later.

Exchange 5.5 came with Outlook 8, aka Outlook 97.

Edit: Apparently Exchange 5 did also, but that was before my time.

CSharpDev said:

Is it because they subscribe to O365 and run Exchange as their email server anyway so they might as well use Outlook as the email client? I have tried to use it on my home machines on multiple occasions and compared to Gmail - which isn't a proper client -, I just hated it. I never could get used to the interface etc

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Businesses have used Microsoft Office and thus Outlook for a very long time. Lots of plug-ins, integrations with 3rd party apps, etc. I've been working for about 26 years and have used nothing other than Outlook for all these jobs.

In my current place and last place, we went to office 365 for mail. This way we didn't have to manage an Exchange server, back it up, etc. We let Microsoft take care of that, so we could focus on our own products were we make money as a company.

pparks1 said:

Businesses have used Microsoft Office and thus Outlook for a very long time. Lots of plug-ins, integrations with 3rd party apps, etc. I've been working for about 26 years and have used nothing other than Outlook for all these jobs.

In my current place and last place, we went to office 365 for mail. This way we didn't have to manage an Exchange server, back it up, etc. We let Microsoft take care of that, so we could focus on our own products were we make money as a company.

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Do you think as a private individual, in your free time, Outlook is also worth it? As a personal email client

CSharpDev said:

Do you think as a private individual, in your free time, Outlook is also worth it? As a personal email client

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Yes. I'm a Microsoft 365 subscriber. The annual cost of Microsoft 365 with all of Microsoft Office and a Terabyte of OneDrive is $69 for an individual and is an absolute bargain.

CSharpDev said:

Do you think as a private individual, in your free time, Outlook is also worth it? As a personal email client

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Well that depends. It's what I used to use, back in the days when I used an email account from my ISP. However, I don't like to use an ISP provided email system any longer, and I prefer to use gmail. That way, if change from company Y to company X for email, I don't have to change my email.

I 100% prefer to have all of my email in Gmail this way I can look at it from home, work, my phone, etc. With something like Outlook, I would be pulling that email off the server, bringing it down local to my own computer, and then having to be sure that I backup this file so that I don't lose my email. But of course, once it's on my own computer, I don't have the luxury anymore of pulling out my phone while on the road and looking up an email that was sent to me in the past (say a receipt for something I bought at the hardware store).

For these reasons, even though I am an Office 365 user, and I have access to Outlook. I don't use it for personal use.

CSharpDev said:

Do you think as a private individual, in your free time, Outlook is also worth it? As a personal email client

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The Outlook client from the Office suite, definitely. The "New Outlook" app, not so much (I've tried it and it has issues syncing with my main account which is Gmail).