Looking at the tear down the the power button connects using two pins. Not sure what connector type the power button uses, however someone could rig something up to extend the button outside the case or make an extension cord for the button to be extended outside the case, to an entirely new button if you wish, or even a relay. For those needing an easy to hit button I suggest this large button. You can even connect many buttons in parallel! Have a button in the back, have a button in the front, or in a hidden spot under your desk in case someone invades your home and you need to bug out! How about using your feet with a floor switch? Here is a guide to making cheap floor switches.
there is no reason to use a power button on a desktop Mac.
It's a non issue.
That's a dumbass comment. Were it true, power buttons would have gone the way of the 3.5mm jack, long before the 3.5mm jack.
One of the biggest reasons for the seemingly out-of-the-way placement is how infrequently most users actually use the power button. "Honestly, most people almost never use the power button on a Mac," one of the executives remarked.
They did a survey/research to find out if Mac users use the power button? Not likely. This is just Apple being Apple. They wanted to do this, apparently for big and little reasons which can't be shared with the general public.
All those times when you offer to send data to Apple for a crash report or other data? That's when Apple can find out how you restarted the machine. Apple collects anonymized data during beta periods as well. It's not "bad design" to put rarely used items out of the way. Sometimes that's an affordance in and of itself.
Out of the way of what?
Eyesight?
Even in that case it needn't have been inaccessible to many.
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Eyesight?
Even in that case it needn't have been inaccessible to many.