Bitcoin (the blockchain you're invested in) is not TCP/IP, it's more like America Online. Huge now, but it doesn't own the sourcecode/Bitcoin protocol. Just like other service providers started using TCP/IP, other coins can use the Bitcoin protocol.
Oh no, you are confusing idea with an implementation. There were hundreds network protocol implementations, anybody can take the idea of "how do I package the data and send it over the wire", but only one is the true king; others found their niches. It applies to bitcoin perfectly - there will be only one true blockchain, and there will be many niche cryptos, but it is already impossible to dethrone bitcoin - it has rooted too deep.
AOL had nothing to do with tcp/ip or internet, it was a user-facing service built on top of the protocol. Say MtGox or coinbase.
The analogy Bitcoin/AOL is certainly better than Bitcoin/TCP/IP one. Comparing Bitcoin to TCP/IP implies that other coins (providers) can't use TCP/IP (the Bitcoin protocol).
The fact of the matter is they can and do
Other coins are not providers.
What other coin use Bitcoin?
Don't make me explain what the long word "analogy" means. It certainly doesn't mean "identical" or "equal."
Bitcoin protocol is not your blockchain. Bitcoin protocol is a convenient name for the protocol devised by Satoshi, used by SHA256 clonecoins.
Are you intentionally being obtuse?
The protocol being discussed is the Bitcoin blockchain implementation and its units.
There could be thousands of TCP/IP clones/implementation but only one implementation is supported.
That's why the TCP/IP analogy fails, and AOL is a better fit. AOL relied on TCP/IP for its business. Bitcoin (your particular blockchain, your "implementation" of Satoshi's technology) similarly relies on the Bitcoin protocol
No, Bitcoin blockchain is its own protocol. It doesn't rely on a protocol. It is an implementation of different technologies that create a standard for value transfer.
Clonecoins can create different implementations using the same technologies but they become entirely different protocols of value transfer.
Coinbase relies on the Bitcoin protocol for its business. Coinbase = AOL.