Having the outboard(s) steerable would make the
boat incredibly manouverable, but most on separate pods tend not to be. Even if it wasa separate tiller system to main rudder(s) this would be incredibly useful in tight spaces.
As an aside, I have a mate who has a 4136
Perkins bridgedeck mounted driving hydraulic props. Big advantage of this is only one
engine (lower
fuel consumption) and the hydraulic motors take up a tiny amount of space in each
hull, maximising space in the aft cabins of each
hull.
Principle disadvantage is - only one
motor - as Mark and Nadyana are discovering on YT channel 'Wildlings Sailing'. Unreliable worn out OM36 M/B proving to be a headache for them in a similar single-diesel-dual-hydraulic set-up.
On the other hand, the clusterf**k that is 'The Mer and the Man' had one of their two outboards fail recently, and it was not so much of a hassle, as one was still operational, to get them to port. But the replacement didn't match the existing, so now has two sets of (different)
engine controls...
Outboards principal advantages being they are relatively
cheap, and can be hauled aboard for
maintenance and rebuilds relatively easily. Flipside is higher
fuel consumption and relative fragility, especially to internal
corrosion.
Parts availability in remoter areas is also theoretically better, as outboards (especially Yamahas 30,40,60) seem to be ubiquitous in developing world. Ditto
maintenance skills.
As others have said, it's horses for courses.