The thing is if you prefer your DSLR to act like a manual old style camera then with both Nikon and Canon (mid level and up) in manual mode you have one wheel for aperture, one for shutter, a dedicated wheel for exposure compesation when using an auto mode, a dedicated iso button, a dedicated focus button and a shutter release. Using any of the above you have an indication in the viewfinder of exactly what you are doing. Which is more than can be said for an M9 where unless you remember exactly what you had set, you need to remove your eye from the viewfinder to see which aperture or shutter you just changed to.
As such taking Sean's list for a dedicated control at hand with practically every DSLR from both Nikon or Canon since DSLR's were invented:
Focus: Check!
Aperture: Check!
Shutter Speed: Check!
EV compensation: Check!
ISO: Check!
However few buy a DSLR to use it like an M9. Most want the high end automation which these DSLR's provide. As such I'd say that Canon's suck. Even the georgous 1D/s III requires you to take your eye from the viewfinder to change most settings because it's all button/menu based. Nikon's have a decided advantage here (how I would love having spot metering available with a switch!) however the mode setting is stuck in a menu. Why? I change modes constantly when shooting events (Manual/AV/C mode), I want to be able to do it as fast as a blink. My 5D allows this but the 1Ds III didn't and neither do any Nikon.
Canon proclaim that the control setup of their 1 series is to stop you changing modes by mistake. I've got a simple answer, the mode dial of the 60D with a button in the middle to release the dial for rotation. Some say the Nikon bodies are too cluttered, I can see their point but you can reach practically any setting and change it far faster than with a Canon. I'll never forget my mentor who I apprenticed with shooting dancing at a wedding, forefinger turning the zoom ring and pinkie constantly changing the focus from regular to continuous. Good luck trying that with my canons, by the time you've changed it and confirmed (which he could do by feel) you've lost the shot anyway. With my 1DsIII I ended up disabling everything but M/AV and Evaluative/Spot on their respective menus just to speed the blinking menus up when I was changing in a hurry!
I wonder whether EVIL viewfinders will be the eventual answer, a full readout of what you're changing as you're changing it without losing sight of the scene or your basic settings, it would flash up 'One shot' or 'AI Servo' as you rotate the dial or switch but without losing you the scene and your shutter/aperture settings. To be honest it wouldn't be so hard to do now with current viewfinders but the manufacturers love to keep features from us don't they..