Originally Posted by
zacster
I foresee a future where it is cheaper to make a derailleur that is battery powered and cheaper to make a shifter with simple buttons, rather than all those cogs, pawls, and whatever they use internally, all connected using an open wireless protocol, and everything is programmable with your phone. It will be backwards compatible back to the old 5 speed too since you set the spacing and it just moves that amount at the click of the button. It will know the range of the chainrings and cogs and will know its own mechanical range and shift accordingly. SRAM is getting closer to this but Shimano needs to catch up.
I guess the future didn't take very long. The Wheeltop EDS TX is just such a thing. For $600 they provide levers, front and rear derailleurs and rim brake cables, or for a little more a full hydraulic disc setup. It explicitly is backwards compatible to 3 speed and forward compatible to 14 speed. It does exactly what I said above. I couldn't buy used 105 10sp for that price when I last looked. The only thing different than what I said above is that it isn't a button but a paddle, because that's what we're used to, but it is still just making contact like a button underneath. It has default settings for each speed, and I'd assume they match Shimano so if you have Campy you need to adjust. It is all micro adjustable.