This is a completely new source that is not a fork of any other crypto-currency.
Although there are some similarities in the features the implementation will be different.
The features seem like a very close match ("Naming Service" - Aliases; "Colored Coins" / Asset Exchange; "Arbitrary Transactions" / Arbitrary Messages; "Transaction Boosting" / Transparent Forging; etc).
But, I've seen that a public will be available during the IPO phase so we can see for ourselves.
I haven't followed nxt that much but as far as I understand the development was paid and will stop in a week?
That is not correct.