Otherwise known as Embrace, extend and extinguish

Embrace: Development of software substantially compatible with a competing product, or implementing a public standard.
Extend: Addition and promotion of features not supported by the competing product or part of the standard, creating interoperability problems for customers who try to use the 'simple' standard.
Extinguish: When extensions become a de facto standard because of their dominant market share, they marginalize competitors that do not or cannot support the new extensions.

With BTC this will happen like the fall of an axe: relentless and abruptly, a mortal blow to a before perfectly fine and united network.