I have been wrong on this so far, XRPs have done well based on the bitstamp exchange rate. Every with people advertising for old forum accounts to get the free ripples the price seems to be heading up in terms of BTC not down like I expected. Congrats and well played to Opencoin, so far.
Yes it's seems to be the case. Looking at exchange rates on ripple the it took ~75,000 XRP to 1 BTC yesterday, it's down to ~45,000 XRP today. But you are right time will tell.