<p>So I decided to take an online course, because right now in my life I am far away from campus and have other obligations.</p>
<p>I had to take my last math course online (Quantitative Methods). I am a healthcare science major. </p>
<p>Well this course uses a program called Management Scientist 6.0 (MS 60 for short).
I just bought a brand new sparkling Apple laptop. MS 60 is a .exe file meaning it can only be opened by a PC. My professor told me it wasn't necessary to have the program and it WAS VERY NECESSARY. That program was used on EVERY exam, including the final and all of the homework. Needless to say, I failed the class after trying to stick it out. It is required. I have to take it over and am in the same position and not sure what to do. </p>
<p>Some additional info:</p>
<p>I do not have enough money to purchase windows 7 or 8 (which is i think the required running platform for the program) but I do have paralells. I also need my lecture slides open so running paralells would be a pain.</p>
<p>I have to use a portable computer because I am proctered off campus, so using someone elses dektop PC would be useless.</p>
<p>The maker does not have a mac version and laughed when I asked if there would be one in devleopment soon.</p>
<p>Any advice? I am thinking of taking the issue to the dean since I did pay for this course and meet all the "technical" requirements, and I dont see how it is my fault that they are using a program meant for windows only.</p>
<p>Does your syllabus state that the program was required? Generally I think you will find little sympathy for taking an online course without the required software but if nothing was in the syllabus you might have a case.</p>
<p>Is this the last course you need for your degree?</p>
<p>The syllabus required a book with an access code, with that you went online and downloaded the program. The program itself was not in the syllabus. I didn’t know it was PC only until the second week of class.
It’s the last math course, but not the last course overall I have to take.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about running Windows software on a Mac, though I suggest you get a copy of XP, it should be cheaper.</p>
<p>But I gotta ask, didn’t you expect problems like this when you bought a Mac? I need Windows for school also (and games), so I bought a laptop with Windows. But given a choice I’d prefer Linux so that’s what I run on my desktop or laptop when I don’t need Windows.</p>
<p>^ I don’t understand why a Mac user should expect such problems. To me it seems ridiculous that a school would require any particular OS of students without either telling them from the very start or providing them access to others. It would certainly never happen at my university.</p>
<p>
Are you going to be able to complete your degree on-line, off-campus? If not, you might just want to wait and take this in-person later.</p>
<p>Otherwise, try to find a cheap copy of XP or something to virtualize.
This is an on-line class and it sounds like the format is not directly comparable to a normal classroom.</p>