Instantly means in negligible time. The 10 to 30 minutes needed for BTC transactions is not 'negligible'. Put it in a real world application and imagine McDonald's accepted BTC. LOL...I used to get bent at the little old lady writing out checks....now I've got to wait on you and the superior BTC payment network.
As you've clearly changed the meaning of next to no time (instantly) to mean 10 to 30 minutes. By 'Ripple offers zero value in the payment system' do you mean it offers 10 to 30 times the value of the existing system?
As I said...it's impossible for zealots to grasp. When confronted with the shortcomings of BTC, they'll use every logic fallacy known....change definitions of words, set up straw men, ad hominem attacks, etc.
I didn't know that I could send you Litecoin and you get Bitcoin....let alone USD, EUR, etc. ...and no, you don't have to use the banking system to move money within the Ripple network either. For example, you can put cash in via ZipZap.
Learn the facts first, then feel free to distort them however you choose.
Stop being dumb. Ripple doesn't enable instant payment either. Whatever your send via Ripple is useless until the recipient gets what he really wants.
If a vendor wants to receive 10 BTC for his product/service, getting an instant IOU in Ripple is pointless. He will still need to wait for 10 to 30 mins for that BTC from Ripple to come into his real wallet.
If a vendor wants to receive $10,000 for his product/service, and he is located in a small town in China, getting an instant IOU in Ripple is pointless. He will still need to wait for whatever amount of time needed for the money to be wired into his bank account.
Gateways are only needed in the near term. In the big picture...long term...they are merely transition mechanisms.
Expand your vision just a tad ... If all of the financial systems are federated under one umbrella (the eventuality of the Ripple protocol), why would you ever pull your money out of the system? For cash?...OK I use that sometimes, but that's less than 1% of ALL of my annual expenditures. (and it's getting less and less each year) Can you give me one reason why your Chinese farmer would want his money COMPLETE off the financial grid when Ripple wallets are as ubiquitous as email addresses?
I mean, think about it. EVERYONE having a free wallet ... just as everyone has free email. Your employer pays you directly. Your iPhone app pays for meals at McDonald's instantly. Businesses like Western Union and Money Gram will go the way of Blockbuster and Borders Bookstore. Banks will have to shift their revenue stream focus to mortgages and loans and away from inefficient payment systems like checks, money orders and credit cards.
I don't know how old you are, but do you remember how fast email spread? or the world wide web? or the use of search engines? or instant messaging? or Facebook? Ripple is free, open source, and has massive utilitarian value. It will go like wildfire after Beta testing is finished.