Indian-American Microsoft exec who helped build Windows, Skype to resign

NEW YORK: Indian-American Gurdeep Pall, a corporate vice president at Microsoft, who helped build and promote Windows, Skype and Bing, intends to retire from the company in September, a media report said.

According to The Information, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed his departure via email, describing it as “a long-planned retirement”.

Chandigarh-born Pall joined Microsoft in January 1990 as a software design engineer, and has since worked on many breakthrough products in his tenure, starting with LAN Manager Remote Access Service.

In his 33-year-long tenure at Microsoft, Pall has worked with former CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer and current CEO and Chairman Satya Nadella, frequently appearing alongside the executives to demo major product launches.

Pall contributed to the integration of TCP/IP, the fundamental software protocol of the internet, into Windows.

After 2005, he was mainly responsible for the product and R&D department, development and management of Skype, Teams, Microsoft voice, mobile search, and Bing Maps.

He also played a crucial part in Microsoft’s project called Airsim -- a drone simulation software product launched in July 2022.

However, Microsoft cut costs through layoffs on this project and its current development is not known, The Information reported.

Named one of the "15 Innovators & Influencers Who Will Make A Difference" in 2008 by Information Week, Pall co-authored "Institutional Memory Goes Digital", which was published by Harvard Business Review as part of Breakthrough Ideas for 2009, and subsequently presented at the World Economic Forum 2009 in Davos.

He studied in Chandigarh's St John's school before completing his engineering degree in computer science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani.

Pall also holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Oregon.

He is on the board of trustees of Ashesi University, Ghana.