If this is the future of Surface, I see why Panos Panay left Microsoft

[Windows Central]

After this week's Surface and AI event, I think it's easy to see why Panos Panay didn't want to stick around. The family of devices has lost its luster and is now just full of premium, pricey PCs.

If this is the future of Surface, I see why Panos Panay left Microsoft : Read more

 

[Kr0nyxx]

I 100% agree with this article. It's a shame, imo, as Surface risks into unique designs / form factors are what really made it special.

I simply wish they would've simplified their naming - Surface, Surface Pro, Surface Book, Surface Book Pro, Surface Studio, Surface Studio Pro, Surface Hub - partner and/or purchase Sonos, provided better support around those devices, continued innovation, and used more current or upcoming technology to justify the high cost.

Now, as noted, it seems like that's all coming to an end and us consumers will be left with little excitement with devices. But I'm hopeful that somehow, this may allow them to really perfect what they have and innovate again down the road.

 

[Iamdumbguy]

Ehhhh...
Panos was pumped releasing the same Surface Pro (with a new Intel processor) again and again. He was pumped when they released the Surface Book 3 times with tablet disconnect firmware that never worked right. He was pumped when they put three year old processors in a $5000 desktop.
And he was pumped releasing two dead on arrival phones that he knew MS was never going to develop software for.

 

[dirtyvu]

I agree that they should innovate. Remember how Paul Thurrott and others lambasted the Surface Pro line, saying things like people want real laptops and that the Surface laptop would be Microsoft's bestseller. later to walk it back when the Surface Pro line continues to do very well compared to the Surface Laptop. Then again, products do have to sell. Apple and Google walk back items that don't sell, falling back to their bread and butter.

You mentioned the Lenovo Legion in the article, but that's not going to sell well (though I do find it cool). It is a spiritual brother to the Surface Pro in that it has a kickstand. Even though the Legion is a better value compared to my Asus ROG Ally, the issue I have with it is it's so friggin big and heavy. I already thought the Steam Deck was too bulky and that the Asus was closer to the my ideal size (even though that itself is bordering on too heavy).

 

[Cmndr_Bytes]

Remember like 10-12 years ago, when MS was really trying to innovate, pushing boundaries, huge event's to show things off like Hololens, new phones, Cortana, Kinect, so on. I was so excited about the future they were building. Then slowly someone, not mentioning names, thought they should just put all their eggs in the cloud. The future I wanted to see slowly started slipping away at that point.
So much potential. So much squandered.

 

[taynjack]

Remember like 10-12 years ago, when MS was really trying to innovate, pushing boundaries, huge event's to show things off like Hololens, new phones, Cortana, Kinect, so on. I was so excited about the future they were building. Then slowly someone, not mentioning names, thought they should just put all their eggs in the cloud. The future I wanted to see slowly started slipping away at that point.
So much potential. So much squandered.

They'll have the greatest cloud that no one can access because the world will move on to Mobile while Microsoft is still pushing desktop.

 

[Iamdumbguy]

They'll have the greatest cloud that no one can access because the world will move on to Mobile while Microsoft is still pushing desktop.

What does this mean? The cloud is not just file storage. It's databases, application servers, streaming frontends, storage, web servers, etc.