I am admittedly a bit of a Luddite (and certainly not a racer) but I have friction barcons on two of my bikes. My other main ride has DT friction shifters.
I really do not like downtube friction shifters, but I have bar end shifters on my two derailleur touring bikes and on my folding bike. The rear bar end shifters are indexed, not the old friction. Nothing wrong with bar end shifters.
A friend of mine was getting his touring bike with brifters ready for his third cross continent (cross USA) tour when one of his brifters became dysfunctional. He asked me what bar end shifters were like, I let him ride one of my bikes for a 10 mile test ride. He installed bar end shifters for his trip. One of the group on that cross country ride had her rear brifter stop working, she had to finish the cross country trip with three gears. Fortunately, she had a triple crank so she had three gears instead of only one or two.