Microsofts Panos Panay on building Windows 11 during a pandemic, Android, and the leak

The big Windows 11 leak earlier this month was never part of Microsoft’s plan. Developers at the company have spent the majority of the pandemic working from home and secretly building a new version of Windows that’s designed for a post-pandemic era. “It didn’t really leak. It was some early weird build,” says Microsoft’s Windows and devices chief Panos Panay in an interview with The Verge. “It didn’t matter, when something like that gets out incomplete, you’re like: okay.”

Panay describes it as just another test of patience in the distinctive journey of how Windows 11 came to be. Just months before the pandemic began, Panay stood onstage and introduced the world to two new dual-screen devices: the Surface Neo and Surface Duo. These were...

Continue reading…