Had a conversation with someone about adding some initialization code on application startup and he complained about that causing an increasing in the startup time. He couldn't really state a reason (gut feeling or something, don't know). This is not a heavy use application and starts in about a minute or so, we deploy a few times a year.
I remember reading such advice on questions on SO some time ago, people advising to initialize on startup instead on access of page with the "if you can afford the penalty" stamp on.
I've worked with web apps that started from 30 seconds to 4-5 minutes but once online they rocked.
So what am I missing? Unless it's a vital application like... I don't know... for the financial market, medical applications, space exploration etc, is it really that important the startup time?
P.S. I'm strictly referring to web apps, desktop apps are bound to start lightning fast.