Correct, those that know about the topic knew that a decentralized currency was possible, however it was not until several technologies were developed and Satoshi put them together in a masterful way in which something like bitcoin finally materialized, so while without a doubt bitcoin is the latest iteration when it comes to money, it would be a mistake to think it is the last step, bitcoin without a doubt will be improved upon but at some point in the future I would no be surprised if something way better appears, however I do not think this is something that will happen soon.
Yes, after several years of technical improvement bitcoin reached the real-time usage even though the concept is being tossed much earlier from th year on which genesis block is being mined. With time the growing population and technology updation requires more changes and this will be taken care by the developers. Beyond this it is the evolution that needs to give the answer, because the upcoming generation is completely into the technology world for anything. This will surely push them to think big and better technology.