jshg46
>... but it would be simple to just add it to the admin panel.
If you feel something is missing from sme server, then the correct place/way to ask for it, is to lodge a bug report and submit a New Feature Request (NFR). If the developers agree with you they may do something about it.
The sme concept though, is to have a very stable & secure base system with all functionality needed for the design scope, and then install approved (& vetted) add on contribs such as phpmyadmin.
Installing every great contrib (as part of the base), would only give the developers too much to maintain, and that would be impossible.
phpmyadmin (and many others) are projects seperately maintained by a different groups of people, GPL style, thus making maintainence/support managable.