At the end of the past week Microsoft offered official confirmation that it was dogfooding (using internally) the next generation of its client-based security product. Codename Morro was announced initially in November 2008, and is planned for general availability in the second half of this year. But while Microsoft is hammering away at the security solution in order to meet its yet-unannounced delivery date by the end of 2009, the first leaked screenshots of codename Morro have made their way into the wild.

Earlier this month, when it revealed that it was testing codename Morro internally, the software giant also promised that a Beta of the product would be delivered soon. Until you will be able to get your hands on the first release of Morro outside of Redmond, the screenshots included at the end of this article, courtesy of Neowin, will offer you a taste of just what the company has been cooking as a replacement for Windows Live OneCare since the end of 2008.

And yes, if you immediately get a déjà-vu feeling, like you have seen the graphical user interface before, you are in no way mistaken. Fact of the matter is that you just need to access Windows Defender, and you'll notice that the resemblance is uncanny. For your comfort, I also included a screenshot with Windows Defender running in Windows Vista on the left. As you can see, not only are the options similar, but Microsoft is also re-using the Windows Defender icon for Morro.

In November 2008 all that Microsoft revealed about Morro was that it was producing a basic security solution designed to integrate with Windows 7, Windows Vista including SP2, and Windows XP SP3, which would be offered for free. The company noted that the product was addressed at emerging markets. However, nowhere did the software giant say that it was building an evolved version of Windows Defender.

Codename Morro is designed to replace Windows Live OneCare, whose availability at retail outlets will be discontinued come June 30, 2009. Microsoft did not say that Morro would impact the availability of Windows Defender in any way, although Defender is also a very basic and also free security solution for Windows. It would make little sense for the software giant to have two of a kind. Until the gold version of codename Morro will be offered for the public, Microsoft will continue to sell licenses of OneCare itself, and will support the product until all subscriptions expire.