Microsoft Corp said on Monday its new Windows 10 operating system will be available worldwide on July 29, as a free upgrade for users of the most recent versions of Windows.

The world's largest software company had earlier said Windows 10 would be released this "summer".

Touch-friendly Windows 10, which features the return of the Start menu and will run across PCs, tablets and smartphones, is Microsoft's latest attempt to win over mobile users and features a new browser called 'Edge'.

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It will be offered as a free upgrade to users of Windows 7 and 8.1, a strategy announced in January, designed to capture as many users as possible.

Microsoft also said new PCs and tablets running Windows 10 will go on sale July 29, while Windows 10 for other devices such as smartphones would be available later this year.

In other news, among the many very serious people at the 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit is Michael Chertoff, former secretary of US Homeland Security under George Bush, who is offering a keynote on "risks and perils of Internet fragmentation" from 2005-2009. He is on the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG), a group launched in part by The Centre for International Governance Innovation, the Waterloo think tank founded and chaired by none other than former BlackBerry co-CEO, Jim Balsillie.

- With a report from Reuters

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