It's very possible in 5 years time there could even be a war within Bitcoin itself. The problem with the 1MB size limit for example and how to deal with it. As problems and solutions come up, I could see forks in Bitcoin as a possibility. Some people go with Bitcoin-y for a certain reason while others go with Bitcoin-x for other reasons.
If that's the case then the early, pre-fork Bitcoins would be more valuable as they could be used on all chains. An early adopter bonus, if you will.
If there is really a fork with unlimited transaction size, then most will follow it without questioning, people are ignorant, as long as their coins are valid

It's not a bug, it is a feature.
P.S. Ignorance, is definitely a factor with Bitcoin, however.