ripple is like the postal service sending transactions (cheques/checks) in the mail to each other where everyone knows a cheque is not the actual money, but just a IOU/request for bank(exchange) to authorise payment you person named on the cheque on behalf of person B and XRP is simply the postage stamped envelope used to send the transaction.
yet everyone just see's XRP as an alt coin. avoiding the actual purpose of ripple
I see this repeated by the supporters of Opencoin's Ripple again and again, but I do not see how this is true. From the wiki:
The ripple founders created the initial ripple ledger with 100 billion XRP. The founders gifted a for profit company called Opencoin 80 billion XRP. Opencoin intends to give away over 50 billion XRP. The remainder will be used to fund Opencoin operations, which include contributing code to the open source network and promoting the network.
How can they claim XRP are worthless stamps on the one hand, but then on the other hand they are somehow valuable enough to fund their business? The Opencoin guys MUST be realizing that their XRP do have value (something like 2 cent per XRP at the moment) and that they are traded and used like a currency right now. How can they just ignore that and claim XRP are basically worthless and not a currency? On Reddit it was even mentioned that a VPN service is already accepting XRP as payment. I don't know about the US, but in my country stamps are used like a currency. If you buy things from the post office, they give you your change in stamps. You also get change back in stamps when sending cash to certain mailorder services (less weight than metal coins).
The drastic increase in XRP value during the last weeks is in my opinion a direct result of Opencoin's position as the equivalent of a "XRP central bank". They have nearly complete control over the supply. With demand being as high as it is at the moment, their restriction of the supply makes the price of XRP shoot up. The price of XRP is basically completely in Opencoin's hands and completely dependent on Opencoin's goodwill, they can make it go in whatever direction pleases them. Why should a for-profit company not abuse such a position? I am extremely distrustful of their intentions, and would urge anyone who intends to use their system (which makes using XRP mandatory) to be very cautious.