Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced Monday morning that the company will ship the next version of its Windows operating system, Windows 10, on Wednesday July 29. The software will be available for free download in 190 countries on that day.

Microsoft has put a lot of eggs into the Windows 10 basket. Hundreds of millions of computers out there use some version of the Windows operating system, and given the massive dislike users showed toward Windows 8, the new Windows 10 needs to be a smashing success.

In addition to the new OS, there is a new browser, called Edge, replacing the venerable Internet Explorer, and the new operating system includes touch capability and will run across both PCs and mobile devices. Windows 10 for smartphones replaces Windows Phone, as Microsoft attempts to unify the user experience no matter the device.

There also is every reason to believe that this is the last version of Windows we will ever see, following comments from Microsoft at last month’s developer’s conference. But is Windows 10 too late? The mobile train had left the station long before Microsoft tried to hop aboard, and mobile is where the growth is. In its announcement a company executive said:

Windows 10 starts to deliver on our vision of more personal computing, defined by trust in how we protect and respect your personal information, mobility of the experience across your devices, and natural interactions with your Windows devices, including speech, touch, ink and holograms.

That language seems to indicate a lot of upgrades and feature additions for some unspecified period into the future. Will users wait? Will the wait be worth the time? There are a lot of unanswered questions about Windows 10, and not all of them will be answered on July 29.

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