I can think of one big advantage brifters have over bar-ends: with brifters, you can shift instantly, without moving your hands. In a race, I would want this advantage.
For everything else, I feel absolutely no handicap with indexing bar ends. It takes an additional half-second to move my hand to the lever, which of course is utterly irrelevant to the recreational rider. It does require momentarily lifting the hand from the bar, but then so does reaching for a water bottle, fishing around in a jersey pocket, or picking my nose, so I don't personally see it as relevant. And shift quality is everything I could ask for. I can hardly imagine it getting any better.
So to my mind, the additional $$$ spent on brifters would buy me a grand total of... 1/2 second faster shifts. Riding all by myself. In the bike lane. On a 30 pound bike with baggage.
As you say, I don't have a problem in the world with the fellow who wants brifters on his touring bike, but as far as I am concerned, that extra $200 buys an awfully nice bottle of wine...
