Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (
More info?)
On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:20:05 -0400, "Jeff" <jeff@naol.com> wrote:
>I'm on dialup (no broadband available in my area yet) so I find it annoying
>that the times listed for downloads of Windows updates are misleading. I do
>not mean that they are slightly off, but sometimes something that is listed
>as a 30 minute download ends up being 3-4 times that.
Note that these times are ALL "optimum" and dependant on MANY things,
but MOST of all on the speed of your connection, and how many OTHERS
are downloading from the same server. Theoretically, the times it
gives for downloads are for downloads UNDER THE BEST CIRCUMSTANCES.
(best network conditions, best transmission rates, etc.) We know
about "best circumstances", don't we? We all experience taking an
extra 20 minutes to clean the kitchen, if it is especially dirty.
Normally, it would not take those extra 20 minutes. But extra work
must be done if the kitchen is dirtier than normal. In the same way,
more time will be required for a download if Internet traffic (or
traffic to or from the download server) is especially heavy at that
time, or if it is raining outside, and our dial-up speed is taking a
hit.
>
>Why does Microsoft do that? It's very annoying when it ties up the phone
>much beyond what you expect it to be!
Life is full of annoyances. The sign of a wise man is his ability to
deal reasonably with minor annoyances, and not become flustered by
interruptions.
1) Microsoft does not maintain its servers just to please you or
accommodate YOUR specific schedule. The Microsoft download servers
accomodate MILLIONS of download requests per second. (and YOU are
worried about downloading the latest fix. Don't you think Microsoft
is anxious that you remain updated too?
2) Accusing a machine or program of "lying" is kind of ignorant, since
by its very nature, a machine or program CANNOT "lie" (deliberately
deceive). It takes INTELLIGENCE to "deliberately deceive." Machines
CANNOT do anything "deliberately", since they possess no
"intelligence". All a machine can to is what it is instructed to do.
In addition, those instructions must be logical (bit-wise) and
syntactically correct.
Are you saying that Microsoft has INTENTIONALLY INSTRUCTED a RANDOM
server to INTENTIONALLY give ONLY you, and EXPRESSLY you, the WRONG
information all the time?. Machines do not base things on "right and
wrong", they base their "decisions" and actions on WRITTEN
instructions, tables, and other numerical and logical(bit-wise) data.
If this is so, then Microsoft is truly evil. However, I believe that
you are simply MISINTERPRETING what you are seeing, and projecting
your hatred of Microsoft onto a machine. Perhaps you need to stop
using computers, since you apparently can't deal with them in an
intelligent manner. If you want to properly use machines, you MUST
first realize that they are not "alive", and have no "intelligence" or
"emotional responses", no matter what you may have observed in the
past, or what you might observe in the future.
Considering that YOU logged on to Microsoft's RANDOM download server
at a totally RANDOM time, "Microsoft" would have had absolutely NO
IDEA who you are.
What you ARE experiencing is "load balancing". All server farms, such
as the Microsoft download farms, practice this, to fairly utilize the
maximum bandwidth at any given time.
Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread
so that conversations may be kept in order
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