Ripple is far more centralized than Bitcoin. I worry if it took off, it'd suffer the same fate as eGold. It's very unclear what power OpenCoin (the company behind Ripple) actually holds over the system. Today, OpenCoin holds basically all power. They claim that in the future OpenCoin will "release" this power out into the wild and the company will no longer be centrally important. I am extremely skeptical of this. I'm also extremely skeptical that OpenCoin can't/won't create more XRP's, and it bothers me that it's structured in a way to dish out the existing XRP's from a central postion (I see uncomfortable similarities with how central banks operate, though I'm not ideologically opposed to Ripple since it's voluntary).
You really don't see how enormously to our benefit it is to decentralize the network? Do you think Satoshi was a fool when he opened Bitcoin to the public and decentralized it? Do you think he would have done better had he tried to control it? Any monetary system that betrays the commitments it makes slits its own throat. Long before it will make any sense for OpenCoin to create more XRP, it won't have that power. All of these things are in our interest.
There are about a thousands banks in operation in fiat world that are not decentralized and they ( greedy capitalist pigs ) do not think they are fools and they think they are doing just fine fighting decentralization to tooth and nail.
Any commitments are also subject to be changed in the future. For example if somebody sees a hugely lucrative market that you could tap with a change of commitments it is a nobrainer move to make and it might be very possible to do without sliting any throat. You just leave the early adopters behind and retarget your customer base to be the new group that does not care.
Any commitment that you do not fulfill today right now but postpone for some unspecified later date is not something that feels to be important deep inside your heart and any bunch of customers that do not demand it today right now do not keep that commitment that important either. If it is okay to postpone it for some unspecified later date it is certainly candidate to be postponed forever and nobody would care very deeply it that happens.
Because there are much more money some centralized party can make without decentralization it is right to be sceptical of such thing happening later. There is just no precedent of that happening ever. Satoshi started the bitcoin decentralized right from the start and that was critical part of it gaining first acceptance. If you are able to gain the first acceptance and first huge market success to ripple without decentralization there is absolutely no incentive for you to do it at some later date.
Ripple is the second Altcoin to be the most expensive coin available. this is influenced by the development that is present in the coin.
thus making the coin so increased and affected the price. this is also an advantage of owning Altcoin and making it the main coin that is relied on in the future as a valuable coin.