agreed.  His point about google maps is especially painful when most mapping products are somehow based around a google maps base layers.  Can drag modem machines down for no good reason.

I also run an MSP and do a lot of consulting work on various LOB kits.  I always push users to test workflow speed.  If there are slow dialog boxes I go back to the vendor and say this isn't good enough.  

These slowdowns are the equivalent of bad latency from a user experience.