System monitor: what does "Load average" exactly cover ???

[Avi Greenbury]

Vincent Trouilliez wrote:
> So my question is: does anyone know for sure what these tiny "load"
> numbers represent exactly ? How are they calculated ?
> 

"The load average is calculated as the exponentially damped/weighted 
moving average of the load number."
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_(computing)

> I intend to file a bug report on g-s-m as I find this is a usability
> problem considering gnome's philosophy, or at least suggest to give a
> detailed explanation in their help page.

What would you rather instead?
The thing with the system load on a desktop is that if it's too high, 
you already know it is. You don't need to check that your computer's 
running slow.
Whatever number you end up with, and whatever you do to get it, chances 
are you'll end up with some other system whereby you still just have to 
tell the user that there is some number above which the system's under 
quite a bit of load.

--
Avi Greenbury