Arthurpc,

Thanks for using the Dell Community Forums.

The Dell A940 printer is Not compatible with Windows ME or older operating systems. 

Respectfully,

I'd love to purchase this printer, but probably won't since my only option is to pay an additional $95 to upgrade my OS.  Why would you do this?  I purchased my PC a little over 3 years ago and have been waiting to get a nice all-in-one printer...unfortunately it can't be Dell.

My options are:

Buy another brand's all-in-one for slightly more than the A940

Spend $95 and several hours upgrading my OS...with no guarantee that it's going to work properly.

Buy a whole new computer....

I just think it stinks that you'd alienate a large portion of your customer base in this fashion.

Color me disappointed...

if i were you id go for XP, but thats just my opinion.

its obvious peripherals for ME and 98 and 95 are going by the wayside.

time to move up!

To bad the big company's have the upper hand but thats why there BIG. I wish I still could use my piles of software from years past but to keep up with the times I was pushed into XP to keep up with todays standards, Blaaaaaa

That's the problem though.  If I go to XP I'm going to lose $$$ in software as well.  Microsoft Office was pre-installed on my machine when I got it, and I don't think I'll have a way to re-install that either.

It's just plain bad business not to be backwards compatible with OS's that Microsoft is STILL supporting!

Add to that, the upgrade path is usually filled with horrible problems.  If it's an originial install you're usually O.K., but every upgrade experience I've had just stinks.

I still rave about every experience I've had with Dell...this is the first bad one.

Can someone from Dell either confirm or deny this?  If true, this is something that should be stated in the specs to inform/warn any potential buyers.

 

------from pcbuyersguide.com-----

Dell announces "smart-chipped" printers
11:08 PM, Thursday, March 27, 2003 by Graeme Bennett. Comments (0)
Dell has released a new line of printers, manufactured by Lexmark.

The new models introduced include:

The Dell A940 (US$139), a combination color inkjet printer, scanner, and copier with 4,800 pixels by 1,200 pixels resolution.

The P1500 is a stand-alone laser printer. It is designed for both professionals and consumers, and costs US$289.

Dell is also selling two workgroup-level laser printers, available in both networked and non-networked versions. The S2500 costs US$499, while the S2500n for networks sells for US$839. All are available exclusively from Dell.
The news is not that they're priced aggressively -- that's to be expected from Dell. No, the newsworthy aspect of this announcement is the fact that the units contain a chip that disables the cartridge if it is refilled and replaced.

Reportedly, the cartridges are different sizes than cartridges from other printer vendors, including Lexmark -- and replacement cartridges are currently available only from Dell. Read more in our Printer News section...

Message Edited by cranlsn on 03-29-2003 04:22 PM

you have to realize just how many people are running XP though, and it won't bother them a bit. I'm sure they had to decde whether to have a big fat bloated driver for everyone, leading to lots of time spent troubleshooting, or whether to have a small tight driver that works great, and easy to troubleshoot.

 

Faboo....what does the driver have to do with the fact that they've pigeonholed you into using their overpriced ink carts...or else?

As for the driver software not being bloated, I'll believe it when I see it.  Gone are the days of simple driver files, now they're tied up in software "suites" with huge install problems, and no manual install procedure.

Drivers for devices are simple...it's the surrounding software that's bloated and proprietary.

Looks like Epson for me...

Windows ME, by itself, is a nightmare to support.  Dell probably doesn't want to tarnish the image of support for the printer because of Windows ME's native self-destruct mode.

Microsoft, in June, will cease supporting many older operating systems, Windows 9x and NT are definitely included, and with Windows ME being based on the 9x code.... well, it's soon to vanish from being supported by Microsoft and any other vendors. 

I suspect Dell may not have included WinME support because Microsoft told them their timeline for WinME's extinction.