It is very much still needed. The floating/movable thing could be considered an improvement, but by not being locked it doesn't center the bed image (which yes you can drag, but have to every time) and the slice button isn't with the options and a few other things. Just overall annoying and frustrating. Cura could easily include a viewing option to have it locked to the side like before too if they wanted to.
I wish developers would stop assuming their way is the best way all the time, and other ways are just invalid and can be done away with. Fortunately Cura is provided for free though.