OPINION: For a brief moment in time, Surface co-creator Panos Panay made Microsoft almost cool and inspired a wave of innovation — what happened?

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I often wonder if I've become cynical as I've aged, but at least sometimes, there's empirical data to back up a feeling.

Last quarter, Microsoft's financial results revealed yet another decline for its Surface division, which saw its seventh consecutive quarterly drop. There's no universe where those results can be spun into a positive, and honestly, it didn't have to be this way.