Foreseable, foreseen, and now happening.
It is the logical and predictable move away from local installed
instances on own hardware to everything "cloud"/vapourous.

Said move is *not* user-focused (despite marketing - aka "bullshit" -
about "simplicity" that will ensue), but is operator-focused... as the
whole "cloud" thing is: it eases things for the service provider on many
levels.

Welcome to the Software-as-a-Service world.
This has been the go-to cash cow for 10-15 years or so: you do not own
things anymore, as you rent them.
Almost guaranteed continuous income as the vendor lock-in is even more
violently ensured: stop to pay and you lose everything.
The longer you stay, the more effective the effect, as habits and stored
data grow.

Rents. Coercion by attrition of other means. No need to add value when
people cannot go around your scam.
Invented by <...> ages ago. Adoption growing each and every day.

On a M$ business roadmap note, it was a foreseeable move from the CEO
which has pushed for unification and cloud-based since his arrival.
- Azure
- End of Windows Phone (it will come back, with a unified Windows)
- Office 365
- Windows 365

The gap is ever groing between people who understand what they are doing
and ask for budget control and the mass consumer who has no idea nor who
cares about what (s)he consumes, provided it's easy, immediate, and
resonates well with his/her most immediate wishes.
Bernard (Beer) Rosset
https://rosset.net/