【Street Stall (2015)】

Microsoft's Surface lineup is Street Stall (2015)about to get a lot less interesting.

According to a report from Business Insider, Microsoft is ditching much of the less tablet-and-laptop-oriented Surface products in its lineup. That means products like the Surface Headphones, which were allegedly going to get a new update this year, but won't now. According to Windows Central, the Surface Duo smartphone is also on the chopping block for Microsoft.

That leaves things like the Surface Laptop Studio and other assorted tablets to pick up the slack. This development is, apparently, an important detail in the sudden and unexpected departure of head Surface evangelist Panos Panay from the company just days before its annual Surface showcase. Panay immediately made the move to Amazon, which had its own hardware showcase this week.

This news is obviously sad for Surface enthusiasts who liked the brand's knack for occasionally getting freaky with it. The Surface Headphones were very solid over-ear cans and the Surface Duo 2 managed to come together into something worth using, which was a pleasant surprise after the mediocre first model. But evidently that wasn't enough for Microsoft, a company that, fairly or not, is more concerned with the bottom line than being known for daring design.

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• Panos Panay quits Microsoft. Is the upcoming Surface event in trouble?
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• Microsoft AI team accidentally leaks 38TB of private company data

Maybe someday we'll see the Surface Duo again. I'll be waiting.