I see so many alt-coins here that are not "scam-coins" per-se but seems to me like get rich schemes. Im a big supporter of alt-coins and cryptos in general, but with so many rip-offs today, why not create something that is unique and will gain attention for the right reasons instead of Pump/Dump and qt's without even the logo changed?
Invest some serious time into a unique coin that will serve some bigger purpose. Anyone else agree?
Three basic reasons:
1. Bitcoin has what, a dozen full time or near full time developers, plus as huge army of others helping out. So you either need a comparable development team (expensive), a miracle, or accept that they'll leave you in their dust in development pace.
2. For all people say they want more technical coins, Namecoin, Vertcoin, Myriad and other attempts to do something genuinely new are all struggling badly. In fact, I don't think we're by any means pushing the limits of Bitcoin, let alone needing new technology to progress.
3. Fair launch coins don't make money. If the developers are on an even-footing with everyone else, why would it? They'll be lucky to get a decent chunk of coins when competing with others, especially as there's likely to be much bigger mining farms than the developers will have to hand.
So maybe if a huge development team could be assembled with a dedicated open source approach it could happen, where the per-developer contribution was low enough for volunteer work, but it seems unlikely. A funded/ICO coin with a sizable dev team doing something new... would be Ethereum.