I don't think I am. Unlike the distinctions of geography and sovereignty posed by, and which gave rise to nation-issued currency (a distinction which dwindles by the day), Bitcoin has no defining feature that can't be completely duplicated and or improved upon. There is no unique face, nation, personality or - despite the constant overstatement of it - real economy behind Bitcoin. A separate fork, which is incompatible with Bitcoin is indeed a "separate" currency, but the means by which people are drawn to it, are identical. The momentum behind Bitcoin even is really momentum behind the digital medium. If a well-crafted alternative came about, the ease of switching over - in both mining and general familiarity - could very easily have people jumping ship. There is nothing more to be done to do so than to boot up the alternative currency's client to mine and/or cash out of BTC and cash in to the new one.
The lesson here is someone is that the time will come (and it is not a question of if) when we will see the release a clone of Bitcoin with a more attractive feature set (wallet encryption, user-friendly client and the like), and it *will* pose a threat to Bitcoin. And the exact same reasons - i.e. get-rich-quick, early adoption - underlying Bitcoin will be behind the new currency's adoption. It's easy to knock Ixcoin because there isn't much improvement to draw anyone to it. But what if something more polished came along? Would you ignore it, convinced of its failure, or would you begin to mine... just in case... it took off? This is the inflation that Bitcoin zealots don't want you to see - and why people are pissing so hard on Ixcoin in this thread. The threat of devaluation doesn't come from an unlimited coinage within Bitcoin, but rather the potential of clones alongside it.
You're conflating changes to the client software with changes to the protocol/blockchain. Any changes you want - "better" client, wallet encryption, more "polish", whatever you want, you can have it right now... all you need to do is code it.
Changes to the blockchain are changes to the "rules" of the system, which make ixcoin incompatible with bitcoin.
With the momentum behind bitcoin, any "competitor" would need to offer significantly more than just "polish" on the GUI to be a true competitor. Polish can be copied, it's the rules behind the system that make any particular instantiation unique and more/less desireable than any other.
We can all be early adopters of our own currencies! 
