This morning, Microsoft surprised the world by displaying a popup on all up-to-date Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 computers. It announces the coming Windows 10 update, which will be available for free on July 29th.

Operating system update notifications like this are a new adventure for Microsoft (remember the XP is Obsolete popup?). Windows 8.1 had a similar notification, but like the XP popup, used a normal windows message box. The windows 10 popup appears as a windows logo in the notifications tray, and opens an information window upon mouse click (see above).

Such a popup is so out of character, in fact, that many people have wondered if they’ve been infected by a virus pretending to be Windows 10. Rest assured, this is the real deal! Windows 10 is coming on July 29th, and it will indeed be a free upgrade for users of Windows 7 and 8.

Microsoft is likely launching a new era with Windows 10; probably including free updates in an effort to unify computers which now run a wide variety of Windows versions. Windows is also likely beginning a quick release cycle–I expect Windows 10 to be the foundation of a long line of Windows 10 derivatives (10.1, 10.2, 10.3…) over the next decade or so.

Stay tuned for more updates on Windows 10’s impending release, including a guide to help you answer today’s popup question: upgrade to Windows 10 now, or not?