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frankenbike
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You're also missing the point. Electronic isn't mainstream for your average user, so Shimano et al doesn't make as much money out of it as your standard cable pull. Why would they make it open source, and thus...lose profit?
Like @edscoble It's expensive. The R&D alone would make smaller companies balk. I worked with a guy who was doing his electronics something or the other MA. He ripped an etube system apart and hated it. Said it was a fucking nightmare to work with, no bleepy bloop and hey presto. It was multiple signal request/receive handshakes with every iteration. From clicking the button, to derailleur confirming shift sequence.
If you're good at making/doing something, why do it for free? more so, why risk a colossal warranty clusterfuck by putting it in the hands of idiots who can barely remember which way a set of batteries go in?