Firstly, Office 365 is not just offline apps. It’s software as a service; it’s a suite of high-quality online tools that rapidly approach parity with their product to flint counterparts,
it’s being able to install multiple copies of Office in multiple devices without needing to purchase more product keys; it’s about being able to use the mobile apps without paying for those separately (which people just won’t); it’s about reducing piracy for MS by allowing organisations and educational instituons to provide Office 365 to employees and students; there are so many advantages to Microsoft
and
consumers.
I am not “rushing” to defend anything, merely pointing out the benefits. What you call a step back, others call a blessing. I genuinely prefer to pay a relatively low fee for access to essential data in the cloud and the high-quality tools that I can access anywhere to work with my documents, collaborate, and even automate with online add-ons. All without worrying about what platform I’m using (desktop, mobile, web, Windows, macOS, Linux), licence keys (which demonstrably don’t work; Genuine Office got cracked every five minutes, and piracy was rampant).
I find your apparent incredulity at other people’s potential desire for certain aspects of a product(S) or service(s) is symptomatic of a refusal to even attempt to understand other people’s priorities when it comes to technology, something I’ve written about at length on HN before. Don’t write off my input just because your priorities don’t match mine or others, dismissively calling my five cents but a “rush”.