Concern #1. Are individuals likely to honor each other's IOUs?
Concern #2. Are gateways likely to honor each other's IOUs?
Concern #3. Is there enough incentive for users to use this system over other services out there that already allow people to exchange fiat for crypto and vise-versa?
Concern #4. Is there enough incentive for companies to want to use this system, rather than just doing this on their own? If you are a company wanting to start a gateway, are your IOUs going to be valuable until you get other gateways honoring them? Are people going to be able to take your IOUs and use them to get other currencies?
The problem with people like you...
Is that you are too lazy to try Ripple.
Open a Ripple account, get enough some XRP to function...
Send 2 BTC to Bitstamp, sell 1 BTC for USD...
Transfer some USD and BTC from Bitstamp to your Ripple account...
Now you have an account with XRP, BTC, and USD.
Start exploring the network... start making transactions.
Ripple is a mind-blowing game-changer...
You can make it as simple or as complicated as you like...
People will be doing unbelievably creative things with Ripple.
Bitcoin infrastructure is incredibly primitive...
Everybody is rolling their own exchanges and services the HARD WAY...
None of it is up to business standards...
Ripple replaces all that creaky infrastructure with something BRILLIANT.
People like TradeFortress and all the Exchanges...
Are gonna be on Ripple in 6 months...
Or they will become irrelevant.