Microsoft Warns Against Piling On Outgoing Windows Update App

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said it believes corporate customers are adding more Windows servers to Software Update Services 1.0, despite plans to stop publishing updates over the add-in component as of Dec. 6.

Microsoft has been telling customers that they need to migrate to Windows Server Update Services 2.0, which was released last year. WSUS supports Windows Server 2000 and 2003, and Windows XP operating systems, the same as SUS. WSUS, however, also receives updates for Office, Exchange and SQL Server.

Even though SUS 1.0 is being phased out, Microsoft said some customers have been adding the component to more servers, which means they could be left out in the cold in December.

"We have recently noticed that the number of SUS 1.0 servers is not dropping as much as we expect," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. "Our suspicion is that existing SUS 1.0 (sic) are probably adding servers to support more clients in their environments."

Microsoft is currently in beta with WSUS 3.0, which is scheduled to become generally available in the first half of next year. The company, however, urged SUS customers not to wait for the WSUS upgrade."Microsoft strongly encourages existing SUS 1.0 customers to migrate to WSUS as quickly as possible," the spokesperson said. The company has set up a special Web site that explains the migration process.

Microsoft's update services are add-in components that are available at no charge. The applications are meant to simplify the process of downloading the latest service packs and critical and security updates.