I like that I can go to CTools (the Saki website used by the University of Michigan) and have most everything I need for a class at the click of a mouse. Professors can easily communicate with students and post assignments. I also like that there is an option to receive an e-mail notification when an announcement has been added by a Professor.

Sakai is a solid management system for educational/instructional content. I used this platform during an internship in 2013 at a private company. I haven't used the most recent version, but the version that I did use was easy to pick up and very customizable.

Sakai is an open source LMS, which means that there are many, many people who care about its quality and functionality -- people who work in higher education. The people who build Sakai are the people who use Sakai. (Contrast this with commercial LMS where the system is build by programmers in a back room somewhere for profit.) That said, Sakai has a wonderful open architecture that is pedagogically neutral. Instructional designers and instructors can place whatever tools are appropriate for their teaching, and, more importantly, for their students' learning, into a course. The tool pallet for Sakai is extensive, with tools for communication, administration, collaboration, and more. Sakai excels most of all, perhaps, in its ability to build collaborative working and learning models.