HOW BITCOIN WILL MEET THE SCALING CHALLENGES NEEDED TO GO MAINSTREAMThe Internet comparison is interesting, however the Internet never had competitors (well not yet), the Internet was actually some kind of a big improvement to "Minitel" (who remembers this in Europe?). Right now, Bitcoin is still far from being an improvement to current payment alternatives existing on the market, apart from its anonymity qualities. Most importantly it is facing huge competitions from many other digital currencies.
If Lightning Network comes into place and is a real success, then we can talk again