Like with the founders of certain Bitcoin clones, I think their greed may be their undoing.
Yeah, there are definitely some red flags around Ripple at this point. But, if the system itself (not necessarily XRP) succeeds, it has a potential to complement and enhance the Bitcoin ecosystem in many ways. So, I wish Ripple to succeed, regardless of their founders greed or lack of thereof.
Re complementing and enhancing Bitcoin, yes indeedy! Re their greed, maybe they deserve the reward, it can't have been easy to construct such an elegant framework. The sooner the code (server included) and XRP initial seeding rounds are opened up the better.
I know you're in XRP buy mode but I don't suppose you could spare me a thousand (for a bitcent) so I can try it out with a few local buddies?