I don't hate them, but I don't think the game should use them.
I think it should be a style option for each PC to use them or not (perhaps with a VERY minor cost not to). Paying a feat for it in 3.5 or Pathfinder is too expewnsive IMO.
Speaking as a method actor player here, I want wether I use them or not to depend on how my character is and works magic. I am a pseudo-sientific wizard? A bard dabbling in spells? A theurgist? Use them. Am I a miracle worker, or an intuitive bard, or a Chinese-style martial arts magician? Don't use them.
If they are a default in the game, their use or not becomes a question for the GM, and that will always leave some players dissatisfied, so I think the default assumption should be that they are not used. And if that is the default, why spend ink on them at all?