REDMOND, Wash. - April 12, 1999 - Microsoft Corp. today announced overwhelming support for the Microsoft^® Windows^® 2000 Professional operating system and Windows 2000 Server from the independent software vendor (ISV) community. Applications from companies such as The Baan Co., Seagate Software and Visio Corp. are explicitly taking advantage of new technologies in Windows 2000, as defined by the Windows 2000-based Application Specification, and application vendors are ensuring application compatibility with Windows 2000. Microsoft also announced the Application Catalog for Windows 2000, available with the upcoming release of beta 3 for Windows 2000, which is designed to provide customers with the information they need to ensure that their applications will be both compatible and reliable.

"Microsoft is thrilled with the breadth and volume of exciting innovation taking place on the Windows platform, thanks to our ISV partners," said Brian Valentine, vice president of the Business Enterprise Division at Microsoft. "Applications designed for Windows 2000 will deliver the highest reliability and manageability ever seen on the Windows platform."

ISV Support for Windows 2000

More than 75 independent software vendors are demonstrating their support for the upcoming Windows 2000 beta 3 platform, and many are participating in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion at COMDEX/Spring (Windows World) the week of April 19. A list of vendors demonstrating Windows 2000-based applications in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion or announcing support for Windows 2000 appears at the end of this document.

"Windows 2000 Server provides a powerful overall platform for our ERP solutions," said Andrew Dailey, senior vice president of Product Marketing at Baan. "Baan and Microsoft continue to work closely together to ensure that Baan integrated enterprise applications take advantage of the unique features of, and demonstrate a tight level of integration with, Windows 2000 Server and its Active Directory™ services."

Leading ISVs are creating business applications for accounting, commerce, construction, customer management, data warehousing, document management, energy, engineering, enterprise resource planning (ERP), financial services, health care, hospitality, insurance, legal, justice and public safety, manufacturing, publishing, real estate and property management, retail, supply chain, and utilities industries.

Application Catalog Designed for Customers

As Microsoft continues to work closely with ISVs worldwide, customers can obtain the latest information about their software from the new Application Catalog for the Windows 2000 Web site. This catalog, available with the release of beta 3 later this month, is part of the previously announced Windows 2000 Readiness Program for Applications and Developers and will be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/ready/.

"We view the move to Windows 2000 as the cornerstone of our efforts to reduce the cost of enterprise computing," said Henry Nash, global head of IT Engineering at Credit Suisse First Boston. "Applications that adhere to the Application Specification are an indispensable component of this effort. We have been providing input into the creation of the specification, and we believe applications that adhere to it will be much easier to manage. We plan to incorporate compliance with this specification into our purchase criteria for new applications and will make it a part of our internal application development guidelines. We sincerely hope that application vendors will embrace these standards and that, along with Microsoft, we can work together to substantially reduce the costs involved in installing and maintaining applications."

The catalog will be the definitive source for information on Windows 2000-based applications including product descriptions, the level of the product's compatibility with Windows 2000, links to company Web sites, and any available support information.

Customers will be able to see the status of their applications based on the following three levels of ISV commitment:

• Windows 2000 "Ready"indicates that the product has been tested to ensure compatibility with the Windows 2000 platform.
• Windows 2000 "Gold"indicates that the product has been tested by an independent testing organization to take advantage of key features in Windows 2000, as defined by the Microsoft Windows 2000-based Application Specification.
• Windows 2000 "Planned/Ready" or "Planned/Gold" indicates that the product is intended to achieve one of the levels listed above, once the product is fully tested.