What is interesting to me is that in the (IMO very unlikely) event that Nxt has technical promise, then as soon as the code is open-source it will be possible to create Nxt-clone using the
spin-off mechanism and immediately bootstrap the clone with a more efficient distribution than Nxt-original.
As I understand it, the Nxt code is modular. The core, including the PoS stuff, will be open-source, but some of the services built on top will not be. The Nxt devs believe a lot of their value is in the services - things like the Asset Exchange. So the clone won't include all of Nxt.
Also, the Bitcoin distribution isn't all that fantastic. It has its whales. And the whole spin-off idea is unproven. The new clone will be neither Nxt not Bitcoin. Merchants who accept Bitcoin won't automatically accept the clone. There probably will be more than one clone, diluting attention. The idea that the clone will instantly have the same market capitalisation as Bitcoin is false. Network effects will encourage people to stick with Bitcoin and/or Nxt, because they will follow the market cap. The reasons that cause alt-coins to struggle, even when they are technically better than Bitcoin, will apply to the new clone.