Now, with regard to digital cameras, I'm never using any controls that aren't on most film cameras. I use the shutter speed dial, the aperture ring, the focus ring, and the shutter button. I don't understand why people think this is not possible with digital cameras.
My primary digital camera, when I'm at home, is a Canon 5D (the original one) which has controls, functions etc. that are
almost identical to those of my EOS 30V (aka Elan 7NE) film camera, give or take a couple of things like eye control focus on one, and digital-only controls like ISO and WB on the other.
Each can be used pretty much identically, whether in fully manual mode (manual setting of shutter, aperture, focus etc. with or without using the internal exposure meter) through to "green blob" auto-everything mode.
So any complaints about the controls (or complaints about complaints about the controls) would seem more related to attitudes to "automation vs manual" rather than "film vs digital", given that cameras with near identical controls are available, differing mainly in sensor technology (film vs digital).
If you dislike, say, autofocus (or matrix metering or whatever), or just dislike complaints about autofocus problems, then that's nothing to do with digital per se.
And I've never understood why people complain that a camera has some feature they don't use, as long as it's easy to switch off and get out of their way. If you don't like autofocus, or matrix metering, or program exposure mode or whatever then many cameras (including my 5D and 30V) make it quite possible to switch 'em off and never think about them again. (Control layout is a different thing: I can understand why people like, say, an aperture ring on the lens, a shutter dial on the top plate and so on. But that's not a film vs digital thing either: plenty of more recent film cameras use buttons and wheels rather than more traditional controls.)
...Mike
