Except that doesn't put GitHub on par with GitLab. So they are basically kneecapping one product (GitHub) in order to not compete with another product (Azure),

Except that doesn't put GitHub on par with GitLab. So they are basically kneecapping one product (GitHub) in order to not compete with another product (Azure), leaving them with two halfassed products, neither of which are as good as the competition (GitLab, which has built-in CI). They'd be better off killing one product or the other, rolling it into the remaining one, and at least having a single-brand offering that can compete on features with GitLab.