diff --git a/include/boost/shared_ptr.hpp b/include/boost/shared_ptr.hpp
index 8ba4b13..c50f13c 100644
--- a/include/boost/shared_ptr.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/shared_ptr.hpp
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include <boost/checked_delete.hpp>
 #include <boost/throw_exception.hpp>
 #include <boost/detail/shared_count.hpp>
+#include <boost/detail/workaround.hpp>
 
 #include <memory>               // for std::auto_ptr
 #include <algorithm>            // for std::swap
@@ -384,7 +385,13 @@ template<class Y> std::ostream & operator<< (std::ostream & os, shared_ptr<Y> co
 
 #else
 
+# if BOOST_WORKAROUND(BOOST_MSVC, <= 1200 && __SGI_STL_PORT)
+// MSVC6 has problems finding std::basic_ostream through the using declaration in namespace _STL
+using std::basic_ostream;
+template<class E, class T, class Y> basic_ostream<E, T> & operator<< (basic_ostream<E, T> & os, shared_ptr<Y> const & p)
+# else
 template<class E, class T, class Y> std::basic_ostream<E, T> & operator<< (std::basic_ostream<E, T> & os, shared_ptr<Y> const & p)
+# endif 
 {
     os << p.get();
     return os;