Dell is currently undergoing executive level changes, and all this has a tickle-down effect. Besides all that, Dell does have the wherewithal of telling which monitor they are selling you, and can easily differentiate between firmware version as all this is cataloged not only for manufacturing purposes, but for warranty, distribution, etc. Whether Dell chooses to tell the customer which firmware version they will be receiving is a decision solely based upon Dell's management. Remember, this is a tech company known for grinding out every last detail for production pricing, so their inventory is no big deal with it comes to the details of said inventory. There is no question that there is a group who wants only firmware version A04, and there all many who could less, but Dell seemingly has chosen to ignore these issues. My speculation would be that Dell wants the A03 inventory to be exhausted before the bulk of A04's are released to customers. There are reports that people are getting A04's, but these people are either lucky or know someone within Dell. If you have your heart set on an A04, I would wait (as my wife is) until they are officially in the mainstream; it shouldn't be that long of a wait.