This actually is an improvement. Not everyone wants to be on camera and for those folks, getting pushed off to the sidebar often means they're overlooked.
This at least means they're given the same importance as anyone else.
No idea what the rant about presentations is about, when anyone presents it becomes the main content and everyone - camera or not - gets pushed to the sidebar. You can also pop out presentation content to give it it's own dedicated window.
I hate teams as a communication platform, but the presentation and meeting views are actually pretty well done compared to the competition.