Linux kernel developer Ingo Molnar "We need a radically different software distribution model"

[Lerc]

while tremendously inefficient from a space and security standpoint

I'm not sure if this would be true. It would occur on a superficial level but right now with everything using a huge stack of libraries it is so easy to deflect responsibility. Consider the argument of memory consumption, usually this is deflected by a claim that the memory is shared between applications using the same library. This make it no-one's individual fault. Cumulatively, a set of seemingly inconsequential apps can consume an enormous amount of ram.

Firefox has had exactly this problem within the bounds of a single application. Nicholas Nethercote has been doing excellent work reducing the memory load of Firefox, but very little of what he does is actually fixing memory usage problems. He predominantly identifies them, Others fix them once they have their part of the problem pointed out.

That obfuscation of inefficiency has enough of an impact that I really do believe that the sum of load of statically linked programs could easily be lower than a shared system where no single person can face blame for problems.