I think this blog post stats perfectly the problem with magic in role-playing and how it should effect games. Link
We know all the rules to how magic works, it can't be a wondrous, game shattering devise. If you want this use artifacts, that have no rules on how to make them.
Treat all magic as hard. If you want something different your going to have to get rid of the wizards as pc's.
Keep in mind that the focus on this post is using magic in story writing and one should interpret it carefully for gaming.
Absolutely.
I'd also consider Star Trek to be about 70 percent soft magic.
LOL, sounds about right.