MKahri, Much of what you say is true. To Shimano's credit they were thinking out of the box & AX was part of a bigger idea. Improving the function of the bicycle. Before the mid-eighties Campagnolo owned the high end bike component market. There failure to innovate almost killed them. It in fact it did drive Suntour & others virtually out of business. Most companies adopted aero as a mater of style only. C-record & Superbe Pro are two group examples. The aero era introduced index shifting & many other true component innovations from Shimano.
One of my favorite books is “The High Tech Bicycle” by Edward P. Stevenson Copyright 1982. He wisely predicted that Campy’s conservative nature would do them in.