You keep using the logic phrases that you seem to not understand. It's not a false dichotomy, it's a generalization that has no external validity. It has internal validity though.

Vocabulary really seems to be tripping us up today. Let's just cite the Nizkor list when critiquing arguments. For reference, I'm invoking #24, "False Dilemma":

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/false-dilemma.html

Specifically:

Bill: "We'll have to keep our configurations in a database and avoid flat text files." Jill: "Why?" Bill: "Because otherwise we'll be stuck with incomprehensible text files with bizarre asses."

I wonder: what kind of format is easy to automate ? What makes configuration file difficult to "automate" is their multiple format (especially on unix), the fact that it is not easy to reload a configuration (most applications don't even allow it) and that there is no easy way to check that your configuration matches how the app is configured (especially for bad softwares). The format only helps for the first point.