[mk270]

This is just rent-seeking, right?

Get rid of files, and data is easier to lock up in a single application - it becomes harder to write programmes that interoperate without the co-operation of the authors of the original app, who might have a commercial reason not to play ball.

[anon1385]

We don't have to speculate: the web world shows us exactly what happens without files. Locked down walled gardens with little interoperability and users not having any control over their data. If things are accessible at all programatically they are behind a proprietary API.