Well, I haven't updated my configuration in many years... I've never heard of any of the extra packages this kit installs outside of Avy (but I use ace-jump). Some do look nice though.
One thing I feel is a strange one to optimize for: startup times. Typical Emacs use is to start it once when the graphical interface of the system starts, and never turn it off. What's even the point of this optimization?
Because people outside the Emacs world generally launch an editor from scratch almost every time they want to edit a particular file. Even such monstrosities like VisuatStudio, MS Office and LibreOffice take just some seconds to start on my very old PC. If Emacs takes longer that's a serious turn-off for anybody who doesn't live in Emacs already.
Well... I don't think closing all Emacs windows terminates Emacs server... or does it? If not, then only the first start takes time, subsequent starts don't even execute the init file, or do they?
One thing I feel is a strange one to optimize for: startup times. Typical Emacs use is to start it once when the graphical interface of the system starts, and never turn it off. What's even the point of this optimization?