But when it comes to application and hardware incompatibility with Windows 2000, experiences vary. At Beers Construction, the only hardware incompatibility identified was a DVD-ROM encoder card from Margi Systems Inc. on a Compaq Armada M300 notebook. All Beers' printers, scanners, graphic tablets, digital video cameras, and videoconferencing equipment are compatible. Even some of the company's old dot-matrix printers work.

On the other hand, application incompatibility with Windows 2000 has been a big problem for Antelope Valley Healthcare System. A quarter of the 60 applications tested are having problems. The company is pressuring Microsoft and the third-party vendors to provide the necessary upgrade patches. With plans to deploy Windows 2000 by early February, the company will spend January looking at alternatives for any products for which solutions haven't been provided. "I won't be held hostage by any vendor," says Shehata.

Despite the application incompatibilities, Shehata says he's very happy with Windows 2000. The only component that has not met expectations, he says, is the software-repair feature of its IntelliMirror management technologies. In his company's tests, the repair feature worked, but not as well as Enterprise Desktop Manager, from Novadigm. Since the company finds Novadigm's product to be more robust than IntelliMirror, it will continue to use Novadigm with Windows 2000.

Early adopters of Windows 2000 knew from the start they were likely to encounter problems, and that they certainly did. But they also knew that the experience would give them the opportunity to help shape the solutions to their own benefit.

"We found a number of issues that were bugs, and a number that were design change requests that will make the product easier to implement globally at Siemens," says John Minnick, manager of technology development at Siemens Energy & Automation Inc., a manufacturer of electrical products in Alpharetta, Ga. This included changes related to the Access Control List that were made to meet Siemens' specific security needs.

And there were other reasons the company chose to participate in Microsoft's Joint Development Program. Getting started early facilitated proactive, centralized planning for 130 independent business units worldwide. It gave the company time to understand the product, set standards for deployment, and be ready to deploy the finished product immediately to gain its benefits--most importantly Active Directory--as quickly as possible. Siemens has already deployed release-candidate 2 of Windows 2000 Professional on more than 1,800 PCs, and Windows 2000 Server on 200 production servers.

Credit Suisse First Boston is also part of the Joint Development Program. As a participant, the bank helped write the standards that applications must meet to carry a logo identifying them as certified for Windows 2000. "We have the opportunity to change the design of future technologies so that they work better for Credit Suisse First Boston," says Ian Saggers, the company's director of global engineering.

Saggers says his company's decision to collaborate with Microsoft was mutual. It already had a good relationship with Microsoft development teams, which provide prompt feedback in return for a real-world test environment. "It gives us a six- to eight-month head start over our Wall Street competitors," he says.

Most early adopters of Windows 2000 were Microsoft fans to begin with, and their experiences with the new operating system have done nothing to dampen their enthusiasm. The product is meeting--even exceeding--their expectations. Not everyone can expect similarly rosy results, of course, but for Antelope Valley Healthcare System's Shehata, the process has been perfect.

"For the first time," he says, "Microsoft is spending a ton of time and money to make it happen. They're delivering on their promise."

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Read more about Windows 2000, "Windows Support."