why are Windows installation "setup time" estimates ALWAYS wrong?

[D. Fox]

Just venting here, as I'm now almost at the end of hour 2 of an XP
install...there's this Microsoft LIE that keeps staring at me on the
screen about how "Setup will complete in approximately 25 minutes..."
By my watch, I'm nearing 2 hours into the install, and the estimated
time has gone from 29 minutes to 25 minutes in that time. Curious,
WHERE does this "estimated time" come from? Does the setup installer
actually do any kind of real attempt at estimating the time of the
install based on, say, CD-rom, RAM and processor speed, or is it all
just bogus to placate bored users who are sitting there waiting for
the install to complete?

Dave

 

[Nicholas]

Disconnect any peripheral hardware devices from your computer,
except for your mouse, keyboard and monitor.

--
Nicholas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Just venting here, as I'm now almost at the end of hour 2 of an XP
| install...there's this Microsoft LIE that keeps staring at me on the
| screen about how "Setup will complete in approximately 25 minutes..."
| By my watch, I'm nearing 2 hours into the install, and the estimated
| time has gone from 29 minutes to 25 minutes in that time. Curious,
| WHERE does this "estimated time" come from? Does the setup installer
| actually do any kind of real attempt at estimating the time of the
| install based on, say, CD-rom, RAM and processor speed, or is it all
| just bogus to placate bored users who are sitting there waiting for
| the install to complete?
|
| Dave