Old fart here. I think they mailed in in the early '80. Very clean cable runs. Full length rear housing run on top of the TT with brazed on guides. Trouble free and easy to inspect that replace. Easy on mechanics. Worked really, really well. (And running the cable housed and on top means that when you pick up the bike by the top tube, you don't scrape the paint.)
Yes, I know the speed freaks gotta have aero. And with carbon fiber, all that internal stuff can be don in mass production. But as one who has built ~50 fiberglass boats by hand, I shudder to think about riding a reinforced fiber laminate that is both complex and never seen with human eyes, especially critical ones like the QA.