3. So the blockchain idea is great? You are convinced it could be a very important development? Does that assure the success of Bitcoin? No... because there are many altcoins.. Sure, Bitcoin is the original.. first, but others on the other hand are able to pick and chose the best features of Bitcoin. Just like Motorola and Myspace might have been first movers... but Samsung/Apple and Facebook just came along and did it better..
And, with your analogy, Motorola is picking up a lot of the great features of Apple and Samsung and is coming back strong. Bitcoin likewise is looking at some of the developments and strengths of other altcoins. There have been a few BIPs and proposals that pick up some good features of altcoins. The altcoins are like a testing ground for these features, to see how well they work and whether it is a good idea or not. One such is the ring signatures from Monero, which one of the Core devs has proposed to include in Bitcoin. Bitcoin implements these features more slowly because it has the highest market share and transaction volume.
While the two first issues are commonly discussed, I haven't really seen to many discuss how the other altcoins are holding bitcoins back. What do you think? Can and should anything be done to avoid a muddled situation where all the altcoins (including bitcoin) mess it up for each other?
Altcoins could hold Bitcoin back, but I think it happens more the opposite; Bitcoin holds back Cryptocurrencies in general. The most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. However, Bitcoin gets a lot of bad press, such as its use in illegal dealings. This bad press reflects poorly on cryptocoins in general and actually could hold back altcoins too.
I don't really see altcoins actually holding back Bitcoin though.
Logic seems to suggest altcoins all else equal will be holding bitcoins back. Many see bitcoin as an investment, or at the very least hope to not lose money when being in bitcoin over FIAT.
Now, think of it as odds - what are the odds that their investment in bitcoin will be successful? Between Bitcoin and FIAT it might, for argument's sake) be 20%. So apparently some there is some 20% chance that a shared ledger is such a cool idea that it will succeed (however we want to measure this). So 80% that FIAT will somehow never allow Bitcoin to become anything worth talking about.
But if altcoins enter the scene, the odds change. Suddenly some percentages have to be given to these cruptocurrencies, and the investment in bitcoin obviously looks less good.
So - I can certainly understand if the man on the street would have an easier time swallowing bitcoin if there was not the added confusion and issue of all these other currencies.