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The best CMS is the one that works for the problem you're trying to solve. So, in essence, it really depends on the project. Just going with what's the most popular isn't the right approach. In my opinion, the most popular CMS platforms are starting to show signs of their age (ie. WordPress, Drupal, etc.). There are more modern platforms that solve problems more effectively by allowing for a more modular approach while give designers and developers far more control over the design.

That said, I have two CMS platforms that I currently use as my go-to's:

SilverStripe - A PHP-based framework that allows for scaffolding out a full data model (very similar to how Ruby on Rails works). Allows for complete freedom over the design thanks to a simplified templating model.

Statamic - A flat-file CMS (no database!) that is incredibly fast and easy to work with. Designers like it cause they don't have to know any code to build complex sites.

I tend to use SilverStripe for projects that have a lot of relational data requirements, that is where there is a lot of relationships between various bits of information. Basically, anytime where the content requirements are rather complex. SilverStripe makes it much easier to create sites with complex requirements while still making it easy for content editors to manage the content.

Statamic to me is a WordPress killer. I use it primarily for sites that would otherwise end up as WordPress sites. That said, you can do a whole lot more out of the box with Statamic than you can with WordPress. It's also much, much easier to design with thanks to a very easy to use templating system.

I'm also looking at adopting October at some point. It's built off of Laravel, which is a very modern PHP framework. My understanding is that October is highly modular and allows for a ton of flexibility under the hood. Might be good for a project or two. :)

Check out Silverstripe. It's literally exactly what you just described.

You define your data structures in nice OOP classes using simple arrays (like $db for simple fields, $has_many, $many_many for relationships, etc), then just hit the URL /dev/build and Silverstripe will make the database reflect the code. (Talk about a deployment/staging dream)

Then you define your CMS editing widgets by overriding a getCMSFields() function, and away you go.

Image scaling & manipulation API, check. Beautiful, focused, intuitive admin interface (seriously clients love it) with CKEditor out of the box, check. File manager, search engine, check. Just a really well-written MVC framework with easy DB scaffolding and a polished CMS interface on top. Brilliant lazy-loading ORM syntax. Super clean and infinitely flexible template system. A preview system that actually works. Solid ecosystem of modules.

Drupal used to be our go-to but Silverstripe has been a real breath of fresh air. Check it out.

Check out Silverstripe. It's literally exactly what you just described.

You define your data structures in nice OOP classes using simple arrays (like $db for simple fields, $has_many, $many_many for relationships, etc), then just hit the URL /dev/build and Silverstripe will make the database reflect the code. (Talk about a deployment/staging dream)

Then you define your CMS editing widgets by overriding a getCMSFields() function, and away you go.

Image scaling & manipulation API, check. Beautiful, focused, intuitive admin interface (seriously clients love it) with CKEditor out of the box, check. File manager, search engine, check. Just a really well-written MVC framework with easy DB scaffolding and a polished CMS interface on top. Brilliant lazy-loading ORM syntax. Super clean and infinitely flexible template system. A preview system that actually works. Solid ecosystem of modules.

Drupal used to be our go-to but Silverstripe has been a real breath of fresh air. Check it out.

Disclaimer: Website developer that has used Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress, not liking any of them.

I find that Silverstripe to be a pretty neat CMS for developers and clients. Find it much easier to work with than the other major players like you listed.

The New Zealand Government actually use Silverstripe themselves and they seem to be pretty happy.

Seriously though, it is actually enjoyable to work with for the variety of projects I have used it for. In time like the others, it might reach a point that it is no longer fantastic to work with and at that point, I will find the next system to adopt.

If you want to check out an Open Source application that is well on the way to being a Sharepoint killer check out SilverStripe.

http://silverstripe.org/

Lots of plugins and extensions already, available for all three platforms (Linux, MacOS, and Microsoft) and yet still under active development. :o)

Its actually a website CMS, but many of the extensions effectively make it much more than merely a _very_ easy-to-use CMS. :o)

SilverStripe, one of the PHP/MySQL applications included in Microsoft's Web Application gallery, gets 40% of its installs on Windows currently. So, to streamline those installs makes a good set of sense, especially as a high number of those would be purely for evaluation purposes, where the focus is to get a copy quickly running with all the correct dependencies sorted. http://silverstripe.org/silverstripe-installation-trends-march2009/