Great observation. What is ironic is that so-called "libertarians" get angry because a for-profit company wants to make money in the space. Seems they have more of a Marxist bent than anything else.

I've been to the Ripple meetup and met the developers, saw the work that they are doing and Ripple is anything but a scam. Those who poo-poo Ripple, claim it doesn't work, and make disparaging comments without even bothering to do any real research, will be in for quite a shock soon :-)

Ripple will provide immediate benefits to Bitcoin. For example, the Kraken exchange (http://kraken.com) will make it tremendously easier to buy and sell Bitcoins, and Kraken accounts are also Ripple enabled. We need things like this because MtGox has a strangle-hold on providing exchange services.