Touring - Friction vs indexed shifting?

Friction vs indexed shifting? which do you prefer and why?

My bike currently has bar-con friction. My uncle (who is a cyclist) says I should upgrade it to index shifting.

My other bike is my fast race bike and it does have STI so I know what that is like.

But for touring and commuting which do you think is better and why.

Index rear, friction front.

When I built up our last touring bike I could not find a set of 9-speed Shimano bar ends anyplace, or even a set of 8-speeds to use in friction mode untill I could get some. I tried new and used, E-bay, Gregs list etc. with out luck. What I did find was a N.O.S. pair of Sun Tour bar ends, and I installed them. Thinking I would just swap them out with a pair of indexed bar ends when I could get them.

But I don't miss the indexing, so Im not going to bother. The old shifters work fine with the 9 speed so why bother.

Friction front and back. When I got my Atlantis built by Riv it came set indexed rear and friction front. That was cool and I rode with it for a while. Maybe it was the shipping, maybe cables stretch but pretty quickly I grew tired of the index not being perfect for each gear. So a switched to friction rear as well and now I always have perfect trim.

Ye olde skool of friction !
Less is always more !

I've got index on my MTB/commuter, downtube friction on my touring bike. Well, it's actually index/friction, but I never use the index option, and I don't miss it. Even if I wanted to use it, it's a 6 speed shifter with an 8 speed cassette shoved on the back, so I doubt it'd work! I've never had a problem finding the gear friction-shifting, and I've found that I have less problem the more cogs are on the rear, I assume because they're closer together. I've owned bikes with STI, and it's fine, but I like stuff I can fix in my garage if anything goes awry, instead of having to make an LBS trip. So disc brakes and STI are really not my cup of tea.

Index... friction... no right answer. So much depends on your style of travel, destination(s), and mechanical savvy. My touring bike has STI brifters, and they are reliable for the kind of touring that I do (carrying credit card and one change of clothing), accurate and a pleasure to use. But I would want something more serviceable if I were heading out into the heart of darkness — in other words, more than a few hours away from a bicycle mechanic.

Friction front.

On the rear, I have a slight preference for indexed. Indexed is better on the tandem or when travelling on gravel roads because I can't hear whether or not I am on gear.

I tend to use index, but see no strong preference. I like barcons best because they can do both in case index usually doesn't work. I think whatever you like is okay, there is no solid argument for either.