Ripples are too centralized to allow for the popularity and growth that bitcoin has seen so far.
Perhaps, but being bit more centralized has some advantages also. Ie it doesnt require mining which of course wastes a lot of resources. And perhaps large masses find it easier to understand.
I found the Bitcoin concept way easier to understand:P The "trust" part is gonna be pretty confusing, why not just let people rank the "nodes" like they do on EBay instead.