I don't see what advantage an offshoot would have. The current blockchain is the longest; there's no reason to ditch it.
The nature of the Bitcoin's SHA-256 POW means that individuals can no longer meaningfully contribute to the integrity of the chain, and this responsibility is increasingly held by fewer individuals with access to (relatively) expensive specialized ASIC machines.
The Bitcoin system has (relatively) few legit trade opportunities yet, but is well used by scammers and black marketeers.
The median person has little use for Bitcoin as it is now.
MtGOX showed that exchanges are a point of vulnerability.
Silk Road seizure showed that Bitcoin is vulnerable to rubber-hose cryptanalysis and reminded everyone it is only pseudoanonymous.
Governments have already moved to attack Bitcoin or users of Bitcoin. Mostly these are proactive attempts to defend domestic currency controls, or concerns over money laundering.
The "dust DoS" attacks have called into question whether Bitcoin can scale much larger than its current extent.
You can't use Bitcoin with Apple Pay or Google Wallet. You actually can't get an app approved for Apple's App Store if it includes the ability to send Bitcoin. Google play doesn't allow in-app purchases in Bitcoin.
There's no reason to ditch it if you have already adopted it, but there's also no particular reason to adopt it in the first place, if something better might come along within a year or two. The banks aren't buying in. I haven't either.
There is no need to send email when you can send a fax
There is no need to carry a brick with you to make calls
There is no need for plastic cards when one can use cash
And so on, just because YOU do not grasp advantages and possibilities that bitcoin has brought along, does mean the rest of us dont. I use Bitcoin daily BTW it has already improved my life in ways only rivaled by the rise of the web, mobile in last 20 years
What ways has Bitcoin improved your life dramatically?
They are better for certain, specific goals, but by no means a universal improvement.
There is no bill that I receive that I can more easily pay with Bitcoin than with an electronic bank transfer, bank check, CU draft, or money order. There is no item I want that I can buy more easily with Bitcoin than with cash, check, debit card, or credit card. It is not a reliable store of value. I never need to send or receive international money transfers. I don't buy or sell black market goods or services.
The biggest thing it has going for it is potential.
I really, really hate the giant, swinefornicating, too-big-to-fail banks. Nothing would please me more than their rapid and well-deserved downfall, as people start to use crypto to recapture more of the value of their own economic contributions, and cut out some of the middlemen charging tolls and skimming off the top. But I'll be cursed to the abyss before I replace a Bank of America with a PayPal.
All I can buy with Bitcoin right now is a tiny FOADIAF to the banksters--which would probably feel really good. But right now I'd rather just give them the finger for free and use my spending money to buy pancakes instead of crypto outputs.
Still watching, though. I have been watching since 2010. I keep seeing Bitcoin users creating and using trust-dependent services rather than designing new transactions that remove the need for that trust. And then I see those services fail, to the detriment of the users.
I'm not sure what, exactly, I'm looking for, but I haven't seen it yet. It makes me wish I was even remotely qualified to write crypto at the level required to design a worldwide digital currency system. But I'm not, so I can't personally improve on Bitcoin, even though I want it to be better.