[_carbyau_]

These progress bars lie because they don't represent what the user thinks - either intentionally or from poor UI design.

I like MS Windows 10 "file transfer over a network" progress bar (though the pause button seems iffy...). The "hopes and dreams" simple progress bar is labelled factually and can't be accused of lying. And more information is available upon request and is simply factual.

A lot of work for a simple case of transferring files though. Much easier to default to the boring progress bar and some 0% to 100% assumptions to abstract things away so the "dumb user" doesn't have to worry... (NOTE: I hate the seemingly persistent concept of "dumb user" that so many people have.)

If your users have worries about your application performance to the extent that you are required to address them, then 90% of the time a dumb progress bar isn't the full answer. It may be an answer that makes management or user testing groups happy, but perpetuates the lie the article addresses.

Edit: snipped crap and added caveat note.