As for your other point, there are plenty of people who see XMR as a scam that hold no direct competing alt coin. Is that proof that XMR is a fraud or is going to fail long term? Nope.
Of course not. You evaluate their statement on the merits. Attacking those statements based on an alleged competing interest is a clear scam tactic, which of course is why you see Dash supporters doing it often.
A coin promoted in that manner is not going to be any sort of "internet of money". As if we needed another reason to add to the 37 already obvious ones.