People are looking at the situation as saying "Bitcoin will always be big because it already won" but what isn't appreciated is that in open source, the competition never ends because there is no lock-in.
That's where our views differ.
I have no doubt Bitcoin will become really massive no matter the attitude of BTC core developpers. Network effect and infrastructure are everything, you can't beat Winklevoss and Silbert ETF, hardware wallet and 40 petahash with just useful new features. And even if that put BTC developper in a very despicable position of power, it's still a good thing because would BTC one day be overcomed by an altcoin, then the whole concept of digital scarity would be fuck up.
Also Open Transaction will enable a lot of stuff that will add Counterparty-like features on top of Bitcoin, that will happen no matter the amount of energy Bitcoin developpers put into screwing Satoshi's vision.
It's sad but I think the truth is Counterparty have a lot more to lose than Bitcoin if there would be a schism between XCP and BTC.
You think people like the Winklevoss and Second Market are somehow ideologically aligned with Bitcoin above other cryptocurrency? They just want things to stay simple, but if the wind shifts and it becomes obvious something else is overtaking Bitcoin those are the investors who are ready to bail off a sinking ship.
It's difficult to conceive of a reality other than the one we're currently living, but that's what we're faced with here. One where Bitcoin might wind up having an inferior feature-set when compared to one of its clones.