Will Cooke Steps Down As Canonical's Ubuntu Desktop Director

With Ubuntu 19.10 having successfully shipped last week and the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS cycle just getting off the ground, longtime Ubuntu Desktop Director Will Cooke announced he is leaving Canonical.

Will Cooke has been the director of the Ubuntu Desktop for the past five years leading its road-map and strategy. Will led many of the efforts in recent years to get Ubuntu pre-loaded on more PCs, led the various desktop teams, and more.

Will spent several years prior to that as the engineering manager as the company's short-lived Ubuntu TV effort while also being involved in Ubuntu Touch.

Cooke had quite the journey at Canonical and in particular the several past very solid Ubuntu desktop releases. But now he has decided to part ways and announced this morning on Twitter he is stepping down from his position.

That's all folks! Eoan was my last #Ubuntu release and I am handing over the reigns to the ever awesome @m_wimpress. Expect 20.04 LTS to be amazingly amazing!
Excited for my new gig @InfluxDB pic.twitter.com/mZHy3PrsRc

— Will Cooke (@8none1) October 23, 2019

Will is now joining InfluxDB, an open-source time series database solution. Taking over from Will Cooke for leading the Ubuntu desktop at Canonical is the talented Martin Wimpress, the co-founder of Ubuntu MATE and who has been an engineering manager most recently at Canonical focused on Snapcraft.