I agree with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra...but I am also open minded and will listen if someone comes to me with a fresh idea....even it if is only long enough to dismiss the idea as not for me. ;-)

But I suspect I am going to remain in the same camp as you...on Debian I can pretty much get anything I need pretty quickly with apt-get install someapp.

combine that with CPAN and you have a lazy admin's dream