The week has started with a big surprise. Panos Panayproduct manager at Microsoft, leaves the company after a journey of almost 20 years. The executive, who led the Surface laptop area and the development of Windows 11, confirmed his departure through a publication on X (Twitter).
“After 19 incredible years at Microsoft, I have decided to turn the page and write the next chapter. I will be eternally grateful for my time at Microsoft and for the wonderful people with whom I had the honor of creating products,” Panay published in the last few hours.
The news falls like a bucket of ice water, considering that this week an event is scheduled in which Microsoft plans to introduce new Surfaces and deepen the implementation of artificial intelligence in Windows. These presentations They used to have Panos Panay as host and main speakerbut those from Redmond have confirmed to The Verge that the aforementioned will not appear in the releases next Thursday the 21st.
This gives a somewhat strange flavor to the situation. It is evident that Panos Panay’s departure from Microsoft is effective immediately. But what is most striking is that the executive himself had commented a short time ago that yes I would say present at the new company event. “Excited to be in New York on September 21st talking about Microsoft’s AI innovation!” tweeted published at the end of August.
Panos Panay leaves Microsoft after almost 20 years
Internally, Panos Panay’s departure has been reported through an email sent by Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of Experiences and Devices, to Microsoft employees. The roles of the outgoing manager will be divided among several people, leaving Yusuf Mehdi in charge of leading Surface and Windows businesses with retailers and manufacturers.
In the message in question it is mentioned that the decision to leave the company was made by Panos Panay himself:
“After nearly 20 years with the company, Panos Panay has decided to leave Microsoft. Panos has had an incredible impact on our products and culture, as well as the broader device ecosystem. Under his leadership, the team created the iconic Surface brand with beloved products. Most recently, as a Windows leader, the team has delivered incredible services and experiences to hundreds of millions of people with Windows 11 on innovative devices, including those of our OEM partners. He will be missed and I am personally very grateful for his many contributions over the years.”
Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of Experiences and Devices at Microsoft.
In the same email in which Panos Panay’s abrupt departure from Microsoft is confirmed, the company states that it plans to strengthen its strategy. Furthermore, looking to the future, two key objectives are mentioned. On the one hand, create chips, systems and devices that strengthen the integration between Windows, the cloud, artificial intelligence and its clients. Something that surely goes hand in hand with the alliance with AMD to produce its own hardware for data centers dedicated to AI.
On the other hand, the objective of “building experiences that mix services, the web and Windows” for a world focused on artificial intelligence is mentioned. According to note Windows Centralthis goes hand in hand with the creation of a new team whose main objective would be create a version of Windows that directly competes with ChromeOS.
Without a doubt, the way in which Panos Panay has distanced himself from Microsoft raises a few questions. It remains to be seen if those from Redmond refer to the matter at the event next Thursday.