Chiming in from the depths of page 8 with my opinions:
1. FD shifting is much better with friction downtube shifters. Much easier to infinitely trim.
2. RD shifting is very slightly better with indexed brifter setups. I may shift a bit more with the newer setups but it's close. Friction RD was not as hard to use as some people make it out to be.
3. Brifters are a RELATIVE pain to setup and maintain when compared to DT shifters. Dealing with housing, friction and bar tape. Periodically de-gunking the brifter. Etc. However, modern brifters are very reliable so this is not a major concern to me.
4. DT + dedicated brake levers is a much more elegant solution than brifters, at least to me. The oldschool welded BB cable guides, one piece of housing, tighten the wingnut to increase friction shifter setup is more aesthetically and mechanically pleasing to me than a modern Rube Goldberg form-over-function internal cable/brifter setup.
5. Wireless electronic setups like eTap are the first true step forward from DT shifters. Once that technology becomes mature, bulletproof and cheaper, that's the way I'm going to go.