Outlook Rt

I'm running a Surface RT, with Windows 8.1 installed. I could have sworn, that previous to 8.1,when I pressed the Outlook tile, that it went to the desktop and opened Outlook. Now, it goes to the desktop, and only highlights the taskbar icon, and when I open Outlook from there, it opens it minimalized instead of maximized. Has something changed, or am I mistaken, or did I screw something up?
Also, the "Tile" does not show the number of emails. Never has for that matter. Is there something I can do about that?

Thanks

John