Just weeks before it was slated to retire Software Update Services, Microsoft announced that it has extended the life of the aged patching software by seven months.

SUS was to be dropped on Dec. 6, about a week before next month's regularly scheduled security releases; corporate users were to have moved on to the newer Windows Server Update Services by then. Now, however, SUS will be kept on life support until July 10.

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"In response to customer feedback, and to provide customers with additional time to migrate off Software Update Services 1.0, we've gone ahead and announced an extension," said Mike Reavy, program manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), on the group's blog.

Microsoft wanted to shut down SUS last year, but complaints from corporate customers forced it to backtrack. It was then that the company pegged Dec. 6 as SUS's drop-dead date.

WSUS 2.0 can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site free of charge. A beta 2 of WSUS 3.0 is also available. The software runs on Windows Server 2003, and when it's released, will run on Longhorn Server.