14 DAY TRIAL // After the launch of the Surface Book and the Surface Pro 4, Panos Panay, now head of the Devices unit at Microsoft and the man who actually brought the Surface to life, has become one very popular figure at the Redmond-based software giant. And this is partially thanks to the fact that he has always been a huge supporter of this first-criticized-then-praised product.
The recent upper management changes that took place at Microsoft actually helped Panay continue the work he started on the Surface product lineup during the Ballmer era, so since he’s one of the executives who have had the chance to work with both the old and the new CEO, picking the better one is a tough job.
Not that he can actually express his feeling publicly and say that he likes one more than the other, but it’s still interesting to hear the opinion of a long-time Microsoftie who has survived all the changes and who has worked with both the ecstatic Ballmer and the gentleman Nadella.
“They blow your mind”
Speaking with GeekWire, Panay praised both of them:
“Oh man, I’m absolutely not going to answer that question. (Laughter.) They’re both special to me. They’re both very different. They’re such great leaders, I will tell you, they have very different attributes, as you well know, they speak differently, but I will tell you they’re both inspiring. If you get five minutes with either one of them, they blow your mind,” he said.
“We’ve watched the company grow through all these years, and now we have Satya who’s leading us. He’s so elegant and thoughtful, and when we get to walk through the labs together and he puts his hands on the products and he has opinions and he helps form these things, it’s really delightful and inspiring.”
Probably the most important thing is that the Surface lineup lives on, and after facing intensive criticism in 2012 when the first device came out, new models such as the Pro 4 and the Book are not only a lot more advanced but also more successful. So Panay’s work is finally paying off, and Microsoft is becoming a company more focused on hardware, no matter who the CEO is.