Here's another thread that addresses my BitCoin feature adoption question in the OP ..
Poster's here may be interested in the points raised ..

 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=694410.0

My take away ..

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posted by 'darkota'
"If the alt-coin isn't using Bitcoin's codebase/Bitcoin-based, then Bitcoin can't incorporate w/e(features etc) that Alt-coin has. Basically, alt-coins that use Bitcoin's codebase are useless, because as mentioned by OP, Bitcoin can simply copy what that alt-coin has into Bitcoin itself. Alt-coins that aren't using Bitcoin's codebase are the only ones that stand a chance to even remotely stand alongside/compete with Bitcoin."
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Triff ..