Pearson complaining about using Linux to access my course material

"Our spyware is not able to accommodate your platform."

The horror stories I've read about what you give the software access to do (assuming there's truth to them; I've never run it myself).

Edit: I'm realizing now your screenshot is probably for a web course.

Their deliberate word choice of “upgrade” to supported operating system is mildly infuriating.

I’ll just change my web browser’s user agent then; you’re a fucking website, you don’t need to know which OS I’m using.

It’s amazing how many “unsupported” web apps work perfectly fine once you change the UA. It’s often a completely arbitrary limitation so that they can hire less qualified support staff.

Upgrade

Insults on top of incompetence, huh?

The most infuriating part is that they call it an "upgrade"

I ran into this before too, I believe I got around it with a User Agent changer… that or a windows 10 VM with 2 cores and 2GB of RAM that ran only Firefox… or you may be able to just press remind me later and suffer little/no consequences

I think it’s just because people that use Linux are generally more technologically inclined and are more likely to try and get around their crappy DRM

How tf do you not support an operating system. Like you gotta go out of your way to detect and block the operating system. Like if you put in 0 effort it would probably work but your company really spent money making their product less accessible for no reason.

I had this problem over 10 years ago. change your user-agent, problem solved.

they do it because they are regulations for educational software that must be met, like specific access requirements in order to be used in accredited courses.

it's not anything specifically against Linux, it's that they can't test and validate those access requirements for anything outside Windows due to organizational limitations.

source: I worked for colleges early in my career that used Pearson then worked for a vendor that managed infrastructure and project management for Pearson. they aren't unique, their competition is just as fucked as they are. most still use waterfall because upper mgmt is old and refuses to adapt.

They're under a class-action lawsuit currently for using biometric data in a US state where it's illegal. Just kinda interesting. https://www.bipatestsettlement.com/Home/FAQ

"Upgrade"? Every other option is a downgrade. Sue them for false advertisement.

Very loose interpretation of the word "upgrade" they're employing here..

I had a course where the teacher basically said you would have a hard time passing if you did not have a windows laptop because it was the only OS that worked well with their program.

The program was Excel workbooks

Its comical that in the last 25 years Linux has gone from a nerd-only tool to something that a 10 year old can install on an air-fryer and still we deal with this bs

What "Key features" from an educational course could possibly require windows? It's spying on you.

I had that problem. I changed my ua to Edge on Windows, and the message went away. Everything worked.

I had this problem with Pearson. I got around it by making sure my bowser (librewolf) reported windows as my user agent. This was last semester for an online intro level course, ymmv

Edit: I see your other posts about how its not blocking access... Tbh I don't remember checking, I just remember checking my browser settings haha. Guess I didn't have to bother.

Damn! If only we had some sort of technology that was OS independent and served as a way to view content and run code written for it without having to recompile for every platform.

I am of course talking about web browsers. Which I'm betting this screenshot is from.

Pearson has an effective monopoly on teacher certification tests. I don’t understand why private companies get to make up so many of the rules.

Our website runs on a linux server, can you not use it though

"Upgrade"

LOL

The funny thing is that their server is probably running on Linux.

This is like the Apple Business website, which only works in Safari, according to them. Used the User-Agent Switcher plugin, and the website/dashboard works just fine on Firefox in Linux.

what could they possibly be doing that requires an os?

"Upgrade?" "UPGRADE?!" Oh no they didn't.

Seriously, though, there may well be ways around this without switching your OS. If it's browser-based, the first thing I'd try is a user-agent switcher.

Though, actually, does that "remind me later" option work? It does look kindof grayed out, but it couldn't hurt to try a click.

I had that too, closed the popup and never ran into anything even mildly broken during the entire course. Aside from the popup they don't seem to be actively sabotaging Linux users, and it's a website, so it's gonna work pretty much identically on any OS as long as you're using a common browser.

That said, they should definitely phrase the message more like "Your OS isn't supported, so don't expect help from us if something Linux-specific breaks our page" than "You need to get a different OS."

Change User-Agent
Pearson: Please come in!

For the record, my friend (he uses arch btw) has used Pearson before and I dont believe it actually affected him, so to me the message means "it could work for you but we won't support Linux if something screws up on your end because we're lazy developers"

Just had to deal with this last semester. Get a user agent switcher plugin and change your OS to windows, it should work for everything but proctored tests. You'll likely have to go in person for those

Bonus points if it's a Linux course

bro, my math and calc professor made us use this for our course despite the fact that our college really wants profs to stop using 3rd party sites like these and just use Brightspace.

It was like $100 CAD too. And it's a fucking WEBSITE. Why is windows required? Do you need to ring 0 access so I can solve a derivative or something????

upgrade to a supported operating system

What are the options? Let me guess, Micro$oft Windows or Windows

NO! YOU FUCKING UPGRADE!

That kind of fuckery drove me off a company-sponsored training course.

I just tried to do a certification exam with these pricks a few hours ago. It was my first time and I was not expecting the degree of privacy-violating photos they would need of my workspace. I work in my bedroom and my desk wasn't clean enough. I think. I could barely understand what the guy was saying due to his thick accent. I think I got disconnected twice and just gave up. Fucking scam. All for a worthless piece of fucking paper to prove I can do the same job I've been doing for the past 13+ years.

There s a place where you can name and shame in a permanent searchable record: https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Main_Page

Be the change you want.

Same pearson selling linux books

Yep, absolutely unnecessary too. I run into this too but there doesn’t seem to be any issue after dismissing it. The audacity to say “upgrade”, I hate Pearson so much and this is barely scratching the surface of their garbage :P

I had that problem too. Thing is, nothing was broken and everything was fine. It just whined at me.

The Pearson website for assignments and exercises is definitely in by bottom-ten user experiences on the internet. And it's even a paid tool! Fuck pearson

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

Just spoof your user agent string. You'll eventually find one they like.

I couldn't even use a virtual machine for my cert I had to use a Friends computer to even do anything and even that it was incredibly hard because I had to disable things to make it work. Fuck Pearson fuck them to hell completely.

Haiku OS stumbles into the room, gags at the PearsonVue stench, beats a hasty retreat

Change your user agent. There's a bunch of extensions for that and they don't compromise functionality.

I tried to download Microsoft Office on Linux Mint and I couldn't even download the exe (to run through wine), I needed to go to Windows to download it ... now I just need to make it work (I am in the 1% of people who actually need official Excel)