Microsoft announced Monday that Windows 10 will be available for sale for July 29. Most people -- especially Microsoft diehards -- won't have to buy a copy next month, however. The company's offering free upgrades to most devices currently running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1.  Qualifying Microsoft customers can register to get their free July upgrade right now; instructions are on Microsoft's Web site.  Users will be upgraded to the corresponding version of Windows that they already have. For example, if you have Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, you'll be upgraded to Windows 10 Home. If you have Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, you'll be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.  So what do you get from the new system? For one, you get Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant, which is able to schedule your appointments, send your messages and will be able to interact with your Windows, Android or iOS phone. The company has also included features that will make it easier to pass information between a PC and a Windows Phone.  Microsoft also ditched its long-time, much-hated browser, Internet Explorer in the new system in favor of a browser called "Microsoft Edge." The browser is faster from stem-to-stern, and also includes an annotation feature that lets you type or write on Web pages if you want to keep notes.  [Internet Explorer is the Nickelback of Web browsers, and already fading into oblivion.]  The company has also updated its music, video, photos, mail, calendar and contact apps. It's also added an Xbox app, which will let a user's PC and Xbox game console communicate more closely; gamers will be able to stream games from their Xbox One to PCs in their homes. The upgrade also comes with new versions of OneNote and Outlook; upgraded versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint will be sold separately.  This will be a major launch for Microsoft, which is looking to shed its image as a plodding giant in favor a friendlier, more nimble company that plays nice with gadgets and programs made by competitors such as Apple, Samsung and Google. It's also focusing more on offering services rather than products, so Windows 10 will be constantly updated like mobile operating systems, or Apple's OS X, rather the familiar release model of putting a finished product on a CD and meddling with it very little until the next major update.  That change may have enabled Microsoft to accelerate its timeline -- new Windows updates have tended to come in the fall, as of late -- but also means that some features won't be a part of the initial Windows 10 release. For example, as Ars Technica reported, features such as extension support for the new Edge browser won't be coming until a later update.  If you're interested in upgrading your own computer, you can do so from your own Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 computer by clicking on the small Windows icon on the lower right-hand side of your toolbar, which takes you to the "Get Windows 10" app. (The app should show up automatically on qualifying machines to which you have administrative privileges.) The same app should give you confirmation that your reservation went through.  You can cancel your upgrade at any time before the system launches, and you will also be able to get the upgrade even if you don't reserve a copy ahead of time -- but Microsoft says this is "easiest way" to get Windows 10.  Hayley Tsukayama covers consumer technology for The Washington Post.
The new operating system will be available for free to most existing Windows users -- and ditches Internet Explorer.