Panos Panay has a Diet Coke problem. It's a topic that quickly came up when I walked into the small interview room, after he offered me a choice of beverages and I said my partner has a similar addiction. After a quick conversation on the advantages of drinking plain water over diet colas, I knew his wife, like me, advocates for less soda, but I still knew nothing of how much the man actually consumed a day. It was Panay's first launch event with members of the media since he left Microsoft last year to lead Amazon's devices and services team. And the instant I walked into the event space at The Shed in New York, I thought "this feels like a Panos event."

"Panos Panay" may not be an anagram for "passion," but at Microsoft, it was pretty darn close. Panos Panay, the chief product officer for Microsoft, unexpectedly stepped down on Tuesday, after serving nearly twenty years at the company. Panay rose to the ranks of chief product officer, overseeing the development of Windows and its complementary Surface PC line. Interestingly, Panay gave no specific reason for leaving, and at press time had only posted a single message announcing his departure on Twitter/X. Even more interestingly, Panay had originally said he would oversee the launch of Microsoft's next Surface devices at an event this week, on Sept. 21.

This week, we chat with Panos Panay, Microsoft's Chief Product Officer, about Windows Copilot, a new "AI assistant" headed to Windows 11. Is this just a smarter Clippy, or will AI actually transform the way we use Windows? Also, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss what's up with Apple's Mixed Reality headset as we gear up for WWDC in a few weeks. Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments!

With the Surface Book, Microsoft delivered yet another way to rethink traditional computers. It resembled a laptop more than the earlier Surface devices, which were basically tablets with keyboard covers. But it also packed in one new trick: a large screen that you could easily remove at the touch of a button and use as a tablet. At the heart of that feature was a unique hinge that looked unlike anything else on the market. It had one big problem, though: It wasn't very stable.