Mine is a current model Bosch. From a
customer point of view (the installers point of view, frankly, is irrelevant; they do NOT have to live with it) overall, the brand is noted as the best dishwasher line available. Yes, it has, from some installer's point of view, a "poor design" with a water connection and an electrical connection in the back. But, If I can remove it completely in 60 seconds, exactly how much of a better design would a professional installer like? One that allows you to pull it out in 30 seconds?
I'm just going on a WAG here (that's wild a** guess) that the reason why these things are in the BACK of the dishwasher, is it ensures, 100%, that it MUST be installed with enough slack in the electrical line and water supply line so that one can indeed
pull it out easily and completely with the lines attached. If the connections are in front it is quite possible that there won't be enough slack because you can make the connections with the unit in place. With connections in the back, you have to have the unit OUT in order to connect ensuring longer lines.
In my case of the replacement of the GE, I indeed didn't have enough slack in the electric line but did have enough on the water supply. On the Bosch now, I can slide the entire thing out quite easily for any kind of service or repair or replacement (in a minute)...which based on most experiences with Bosch, are things it may not need for a very long time.
Instead of being concerned with piddly things like where the water and electrical connections are, my concern as a homeowner and as one who has installed these is the mechanical installation, such as the leveling legs and how easy they are to set properly. More importantly, how is it affixed to the cabinets or the counter? Most dishwasher manufacturers have yet to figure out that solid surface counters have been pretty standard for more than 20 years and still provide only these little tabs to screw to the bottom of a laminate/wood countertop instead of a means to affix to cabinet framing on the sides.
To each their own.