The next step for Windows 10 is to move beyond its status as a product users need to become a product customers actively love, Microsoft's chief product officer said. In a discussion with his executive colleague Brad Anderson at Microsoft Ignite, Panos Panay outlined his vision for the future of the Windows platform, in the context of the ongoing pandemic. “How are we going to revitalize Windows in the future? Well, I want to get Windows from the people who need it, and knowing that they need it, love it and want it,” he said. “It's something that people wear all day, especially now. And so, it has to be something that people want and gravitate towards. “That's what we're working towards, and there's never been as much investment in Windows as there is today,” he added.
Windows 10 devices
The pair then discussed the new challenges facing IT teams as a result of the pandemic, especially when it comes to provisioning Windows 10 devices. According to Anderson, who leads the Enterprise Management Experiments, the demand for PCs and laptops at the start of the pandemic was so extraordinary that companies were scrambling to find devices for the new remote workforce. “I'm on two or three calls with CIOs every day, each wondering how to react—and many of whom have had to deploy thousands or tens of thousands of PCs to their users,” he said. "We've seen hundreds of millions of new PCs come online in March and April, and we've also seen millions of devices that we haven't seen in a year come back online." Companies that managed to sufficiently equip the remote workforce, on the other hand, still faced the need to deliver devices remotely, a process that might have been completely foreign to some. Historically, IT departments have used dedicated build labs to provide staff members with computers. But now the same teams are challenged to meet the requirement, but with devices located in the homes of employees. “When I think about the future of management and security, it's about taking those control planes that have always been in place and moving them to the cloud,” Anderson added. "Let's take provisioning, management and security and take advantage of those features of cloud services, that's where the future is." The new reality of work, with all the challenges it brings, will inevitably have a significant impact on Microsoft's product roadmap. How Windows 10 and other Microsoft services evolve in the months and years ahead will effectively mark the story of the pandemic, which Panay and Anderson agree has changed the world of work forever.