A Word Against Respondus Lockdown Browser

Respondus sells a special locked-down web-browser that is used by schools to allow their students to take on-line tests without the students having the ability to web-browse to other locations than the test-site, to prevent cheating/etc.

That's all well and good. But their installer routine is primarily designed for a one-install-at-at-time setup, which is fine for the individual student installing the Lockdown Browser on that student's personal computer.

But for a lab manager who might need to install the product on 20 or 100 or 15,000 computers, a one-on-one installer ain't gonna work.

So they provide two alternative methods for a "push" installation.

You'd think that's good, right?

Except the lab manager has to jump through hoops to make it work.

I've been working four days - four! - to get a simple uninstall script to work.

The install is relatively easy (although the onus is still on the lab manager to do the programming work, instead of the company doing it).

But when a year later that version goes out of date and refuses to work, Respondus doesn't have a simple update mechanism; you have to uninstall the old version and then install the new.

And no matter what I do (and I'm a very smart guy), I've been unable to get their instructions to work to uninstall the old version.

But the core point here is this (and I'm going to yell saying it):

YOUR CUSTOMERS SHOULD NOT BE REQUIRED TO WRITE PROGRAMS OR JUMP THROUGH HOOPS TO USE YOUR PRODUCT!

Because of the pay-wall mentality of Respondus and the difficulty they make it to speak to them, they will never hear this message of mine. And since few readers read this blog, few people will ever hear it. But for those who do, I highly recommend that you do not purchase/use Respondus products until they learn that their in-house programmers should do the programming necessary for their customers to use their products.