The software vendor said Tuesday that it will discontinue retail sales of its Windows Live OneCare product at the end of June next year, and instead offer Windows users free antivirus software, code-named Morro.

Microsoft is phasing out OneCare in order to focus its efforts on getting Windows users to adopt antivirus (AV) technology, said Amy Barzdukas, a senior director of product management with Microsoft. "Our goal with OneCare was to get more customers more protected, and I don't think we were able to do that to the extent that we would have liked," she said.

Nearly half of Windows users don't use AV and in emerging markets that percentage is even higher, she said. "As we look around the world now, the countries where PC growth is most rapid, in emerging markets such as Brazil and India and China, the malware threat is even greater," she said.

Morro is expected to ship by the end of 2009 and online OneCare sales will be gradually phased out sometime after that.

Morro will use the same antimalware engine that is in OneCare and Microsoft's corporate Forefront security products, but it will not be bundled into the operating system, Barzdukas said.