[ntp:questions] drift value very large and very unstable

[Richard B. Gilbert]

David Woolley wrote:
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> 
>> Anybody who runs a "packaged" configuration deserves whatever happens 
>> to him.  Windows comes configured to use time.windows.com.  AFAIK that's 
> 
> 
> 
> Most people run packaged systems these days. When they go wrong, they 
> will not RTFM, or ask the packager.  They come here, instead.  It's part 
> of the modern, instant gratification, culture.
> 

And some heartless person, like me, will provide a link and tell them to 
go RTFM.  Or maybe I'll just tell them that "google is your friend"!

> Note that packaging can still leave the choice of servers to the user, 
> but the user will normally just substitute the things that he 
> understands, like server names, and leave the rest untouched, even if it 
> is a one size fits all configuration that is poor for almost all users. 
>  Users will not analyze how the file works.

And that class of user may never notice, or care, that his clock is off 
by 27 seconds.

I first started using NTP when I noticed that none of the systems I was 
responible for were closer to the correct time than five minutes. 
Indeed, one otherwise well behaved system was off by 11 hours!