stupid progress messages

[waider]

DUMP: 99.92% done at 287 kB/s, finished in 0:00
DUMP: 100.00% done at 287 kB/s, finished in 0:00
DUMP: 100.00% done at 268 kB/s, finished in 0:00

I hate useless progress indicators, but it seems they're the most common type around. A progress indicator needs two things in order to be useful: knowledge of the completion time, even if only approximate, and consistent speed. I can't be the only person who gets ticked off at installers that go from 0 to 96% in 5 seconds and then spend two hours making up the remaining 4%. I'm not interested in how much work is left in the job, I'm interested in how much longer it's going to take to finish.

Comments

[bitpuddle.livejournal.com]

When my mobile phone grabs e-mail from a server, it puts up a little message that says:

Received: 1
Not Received: 0

I'm still not sure what "not received" means.