Facing head-on problems.

Beta 3 of the long-awaited operating system is now not expected to reach testers until April, Microsoft officials have confirmed. And Microsoft itself, in a tacit acknowledgment that Windows 2000 won_t be a first-half 1999 product, told resellers this week it is extending its Windows NT Server 4.0 upgrade promotion through June 30. If Windows 2000 slips much beyond a mid-year ship date, Microsoft could find itself facing head-on problems that the company has claimed are figments of analysts_ imaginations: namely, that IS departments, faced with year 2000 budget concerns, may hold off for a year or more from deploying Windows 2000 en masse.