O'Reilly Python Certification

[J. Altman]

On 2010-12-16, Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> Each lesson required you to complete a practical assignment. You submit
> these assignments for evaluation, and do not proceed to the next lesson
> until your assignment reaches a satisfactory standard. Thus, less
> experienced students will tend to have more interaction with their tutors.
>
> A class will typically have between twelve and sixteen lessons. There
> are also quizzes and a final practical project.
>
> regards
>  Steve

I have a general question.

Does it seem odd that a certificate in Python, an Open Source
language; taught at O'Reilly, which offers an Open Source Programming
Certificate and is something like waist-deep in Open Source
publishing; is offered to the world at large but only (IIUC) if one
runs some version of Windows by MS?

Based on what I am given to understand from my correspondence with
OST, it seems that I *must* install an instance of Windows to take the
certificate's courses.

Not that I particularly want to bash MS, but I am running FreeBSD, and
have Python 2.x and 3.x installed; I can call either IDE; and I am
competent at the shell, I think sufficiently, to manage coding at the
shell.

Is it normal for people in CS courses at the University and/or
certificate level to learn a given language under Windows?

Or is it just me who thinks it odd that an OS like FreeBSD won't
(apparently, I stress) work with the O'Reilly Sandbox?