But "crypto-shares" and "crypto-equities" are generic terms; they are academic ways to describe this new class of opportunities. At a retail level, those terms are not going to be used on a daily basis. When people hear that blueberries are healthy for you, they won't necessarily associate that with a flavonoid substance in the berries called anthocyanins. People could care less about anthocyanins, and most wouldn't know the word if they heard it. They just know that blueberries are good for you, and they happen to taste good, and so people eat them.
Do people use Facebook because they are intrigued by the possibilities of online social networking services? Most of them couldn't put those four words together. They choose to use it because it's cool and their friends use it. The same thing must be true here. At a retail level, the academic terms may not matter as much as the look and feel and coolness factor. If others are doing it, then people will take the time to learn what they have to do (such as convert from fiat), but we can sure hope that there are some easy ways to overcome these types of obstacles.
The nerds and libertarians (neither term used disparagingly) will be the first ones using this and blazing the trail, as with Bitcoin. If lots of people from the Bitcoin community used Bitshares, it would be a resounding success. Their learning curve is not a steep one for this and if they show it works well (which is happening with the current growth and growing pains of Bitcoin), then others will take notice.