Just a few minutes ago, Canonical and Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth had the great pleasure of announcing the codename of the next major release of the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system.

That's right, we're talking about Ubuntu 17.04, whose codename will be "Zesty Zapus." While some of you are enjoying their brand new Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) installations, the Ubuntu development team has started working on Ubuntu 17.04, which will be yet another normal release of the Linux-based operating system that will receive 9 months of support.

"We are a tiny band in a market of giants, but our focus on delivering free software freely together with enterprise support, services and solutions appears to be opening doors, and minds, everywhere. So, in honour of the valiantly tiny leaping long-tailed over the obstacles of life, our next release which will be Ubuntu 17.04, is hereby code named the 'Zesty Zapus'," said Mark Shuttleworth.

Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) is scheduled for release in April 2017

What's a Zapus? Well, according to Wikipedia, it's a genus of North American jumping mice. This means that Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) should be a fast and agile GNU/Linux distribution, shipping with recent and modern technologies, as well as free software projects. Also, according to Mark Shuttleworth, it looks like Ubuntu is moving even faster to the center of the cloud and edge operations.

An official and final release schedule for the Ubuntu 17.04 operating system is yet to be unveiled, but rest assure that you'll be the first to know the release date. Right now, we know for sure that it will launch sometime in April 2017. As usual, the development cycle will consist of two Alpha and Beta releases. Stay tuned for more news about Ubuntu 17.04 soon, as we'll reveal its upcoming features.