Microsoft announced this week that starting next year, users will benefit from a new security service, dubbed Morro, which will be free of charge. Furthermore, the company also said it will discontinue retail sales of Windows Live OneCare subscription as of June 2009.

This created quite a commotion among other security service companies, such as Symantec and McAfee, whose share tumbled on Wednesday following Microsoft’s announcement and over concerns that Morro will be a direct competitors for the subscription services they currently have to offer.

But Microsoft isn’t planning on creating a rival for the two, as Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management for Microsoft’s Online Services and Windows Division told Reuters. “This is really focused on the 50 to 60 percent (of PC users) who don’t have, or won’t pay for, anti-virus protection, anti-malware protection.”

According to Microsoft’s own description of Morro, the streamlined solution will provide malware protection, but will not include additional features, which are usually found in many of the consumer security products on the market.

Morro is a simplified solution which addresses consumers in emerging markets, where malware is on the rise, and anti-virus protection is low. Furthermore, the system will be designed for less powerful PCs, and will consume few resources.

Microsoft said it will discontinue Windows Live OneCare retail in order to focus on this more simplified solution, in the hope that it will reach a large number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is only outpaced by the growth of malware, as Barzdukas pointed out.

Morro will not be bundled with Windows, as we’ve been accustomed to, but will be available as a stand-alone download which will offer basic protection to PCs around the world.