If we want adoption ahead of any competitors then the changes need to be made quickly or someone else will make them and be rewarded for the effort. This Brock Pierce guy TBF member came up with Realcoin because he sees a problem with Bitcoin adoption and wants a solution. I don't know if that's the right way to go but it's one way. Big business solves problems quickly because they have the money and resources to throw at problems. Big business and big money are becoming interested in Bitcoin. Will they decide to fix the problems or scrap the old and develop a new one? That's anyone's guess at this point.
It is pretty clear where businesses are primarily investing: Bitcoin. any businesses that decide to invest in Realcoin, stellar, or ripple will be investing in a protocol which lacks a critical feature which is driving adoption of Bitcoin: A steady store of value which cannot be manipulated directly by central planners or inflated. The flaw with Bitcoins volatility cited by Brock and Raison d'être of Realcoin is also Bitcoins strength. Initial volatility is necessary so during the initial adoption and growth phase. If bitcoin was initially a stable unit of account during the formative years than their wouldn't be a massive investment to build and grow bitcoin as the early participants aren't incentivized as much.
I don't think it's initial instability and get rich mentality helped it as much as being associated with Silk Road and being this new edgy way to screw the government and do what you want right under their noses. That Gawker article did more for Bitcoin in a week then all the brainstorming at this forum could do in a year.
Even Bitcoins golden boy Patrick Byrne says that, "he favors competing currencies in theory and feels like they could truly compete with Bitcoin as long as they offer superior technical features. He then went on to acknowledge that the core Bitcoin code contains a lot of slop, which he speculated could cause potential logistical problems for Bitcoin in the future."
The future isn't set in stone. Hard work will be necessary for Bitcoin to maintain its lead position. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.