Microsoft seeds WSUS with Windows 7 Client

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August 20, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. has seeded its most popular corporate patch product with references to Windows 7, the upcoming replacement for Windows Vista, according to network administrators.

It's unclear why Microsoft added a reference to Windows 7 Client in the product selection screen of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), the free add-on to Windows server software that lets companies feed security updates to their machines.

First reported by Greek blogger Yannis Pantzis today, WSUS displays the reference to Windows 7 in the list where administrators choose which software they want to synchronize. That, in turn, determines which updates are downloaded from Microsoft and are stored on the WSUS server.

Computerworld confirmed the appearance of Windows 7 in WSUS. "It was not there at first," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at security vendor nCircle Network Security Inc. "I forced a manual sync with Microsoft and then post sync, [Windows 7 Client] was available from the products selection screen."

Storms also selected Windows 7 in WSUS and forced another manual synchronization with Microsoft's servers. "It does not appear as though any new updates were downloaded," he reported. "This looks like Microsoft, maybe accidentally, seeded the update servers with the Windows 7 product."

Microsoft said it was no accident. "This is a standard step in the Windows development process," a spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail response to questions. Microsoft added the Windows 7 reference to WSUS so its developers could begin testing publishing tools for beta versions of the future operating system's drivers and feature updates, she said.

Windows 7, which Microsoft has started talking about publicly in broad terms only in the last few months, may release as early as next year, according to statements by some company executives, including CEO Steve Ballmer.