Well, in terms of software in general, I would have to say that the Desktop which everyone uses is a great example of this. Do you really 1 gig of software being loaded, taking 4 seconds to initialize, just to use an X11 based or Windows based program? Why do people use KDE or Gnome or Windows, when a simpler faster desktop is available to them? I am super happy with the ICEWM for it's speed, simplicity, and just plain staying out of my way. The new Lubuntu, with it's speedy desktop is great too. Excessive menus, and background daemons slow things down.

There are times, when I find running a Java based mega-program is neccesary, and the sluggishness is apparent to the casual observer. In that case, functionality is preferred over speed.

You can be cheap, or accurate, but not both; unless you are lucky,
... or use Perl; :-)