Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 released today with GNOME 3.24

Apr 13, 2017 21:02 GMT  ·  By

The world works in mysterious ways, and, sometimes, things will turn out in your favor. It's no secret anymore that Ubuntu GNOME, the official flavor of Ubuntu featuring the GNOME desktop environment, will become the main Ubuntu edition.

We've reported earlier this week that Ubuntu GNOME is becoming the main Ubuntu flavor, but today, the Ubuntu GNOME team has also confirmed the change in the release announcement for Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 (Zesty Zapus), saying that their project will no longer be a separate flavor starting with the release of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS next year.

"Next year, if you are using either Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 LTS, you will be prompted to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS," said the devs. "The development teams from both Ubuntu GNOME and Ubuntu Desktop will be merging resources and focusing on a single combined release, which provides the best of both GNOME and Ubuntu."

Existing Ubuntu GNOME users will be upgraded to Ubuntu

Yes, you're reading it right, if you install or already use the Ubuntu GNOME flavor on your personal computer, be it either Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 LTS, next year in April you'll have no choice but to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, as there won't be a separate Ubuntu GNOME edition. And, if you'll be using the Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 release announced today, you'll be upgraded to Ubuntu 17.10 later this year.

In other words, Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 looks to be the last release of Ubuntu GNOME as a separate flavor. More details on this major change, as Ubuntu will be switching to the GNOME desktop environment by default instead of Unity, should be revealed in the coming weeks. Until then, you can download Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 right now from our website and enjoy a great release by Jeremy Bicha and Tim Lunn.