As long as you can download the installer once and save it to DVD/USB, I think that's a legitimate decision too. Producing physical install media, boxes etc. is an overhead that I'm guessing most people would rather do without these days.

You can use the same installer file (downloaded once) for multiple installations. It works as long as you bought the required licenses. So packaged installer media would only really benefit people in remote places where an internet connection is non-existent or slow/expensive, but MS has obviously decided to optimise that case out.