A piece of software that centralises system administration tasks. Good or Bad?

Tasks:
* Software installation
* Configuration
* Hardware setup

Often its presence is the indicator of a highly mature system.

Examples:
* '''smit''' in IbmAix
* '''ZENworks''' (was '''YaST''') in SuseLinux
* '''sysinstall''' in FreeBsd
* '''sam''' in HpuxOs
* '''OpenView''' from HP
* '''Control Panel''' in MicrosoftWindows
* '''System Preferences''' and '''Net Info''' on MacOsx

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The credo of SlackwareLinux is that CentralAdministrationInterface''''''s are evil. On one hand their lack makes the system less discoverable. On the other it restricts the power of the administrator less.

''I don't see how either of these statements follow. Please expand.''

A menu system where the possible options are all presented to the user is more discoverable than the command line where the commands that can be entered are endless, and to find the correct ones the user has to read documentation. However once "discovered" the command line can be more powerful because it allows combinations and automation that the menu system would not. Editing configuration files also gives more power because you can modify even those options that are the CentralAdministrationInterface does not know of.
BUT when the amount of information grows over a certain limit, only "menu systems" remain viable. An example is the web.
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CategoryInterface