But the reality is that an alt-coin is an easy way to raise money without going to VCs. And projects (especially those about money) lose steam without some funding as we are seeing with colored coins.
So true. I remember when I first read about colored coins, I got really excited. Then I realized that there was no way to invest in their success (other than just owning bitcoins). It's a fantastic project (and killerstorm is doing a great job with it), but it has struggled to get momentum, and I think it will continue to struggle for exactly that reason.
The first rev of my spec didn't have any functionality like colored coins, but I added "smart property" in the latest rev, so hopefully we'll get IPOs and user-currencies with floating values as a result, even if the colored coins project dies on the vine.
Also, I like your analogy about going sailing. Colored coins is more of a "pure" sailing ship. As you say, mine is more of a hybrid.