"FTP -> SSH -> proprietary console" does not look like evolution over a gradient of control to me. I don't understand why you're comparing FTP to SSH when SSH is lower level than FTP. FTP "throw it on the server and let mod_php deal with it" deployments were decidedly higher level than SSH-based ones. FTP deployments were often coupled with GUI-based steps, for instance database migrations run from Drupal web app.