Considering they're trying to make apps for teams happen, I doubt MAUI was ever an option. All the "app" thingies are web anyway so they'd be littering WebViews all over the place (which is arguably worse than one big WebView).
There's been a holy war going on inside Microsoft for at least a decade over XAML based UI versus web based UI. The web groups keep winning those fights. Microsoft isn't a monolith, it's a battlefield and some of that spills out to the rest of the world, often with developers getting stuck in the crossfire.
Very well said. I've upvoted everyone in the chain here, but I think MS should stop believing in MAUI. The web is the universal target, for many reasons, many of them good, but more so, MS should actively not be swimming against the tide. They vant deliver as well & as far, & it will cost them face when they try & dont match up.