I think a key difference is that they and the market are clear on what industry they will dominate in 'The New (Decentralized) World.'
Ethereum - Decentralized Apps
MaidSafe - Decentralized Data
Bitcoin - Decentralized Gold
Augur - Decentralized PM (Gambling)
BitShares - Decentralized Bank & Exchange
This type of graphic is found on almost every Alt-coin forum... except subtract bitshares and insert other alt-coin. I was just perusing the nxt forum and saw a very similar graphic. It just shows that most people know what the top coins will be, but have some false hope that their alt fits in with them.
The Graphic itself is superfluous other than to highlight, that like the New World & The Internet in the early nineties, the decentralised landscape is yet unsettled but has the potential to create large fortunes in and disintermediate multiple existing industries
BitShares has often lacked clarity internally and externally on 'What is BitShares?' However as an investor/speculator I can confidently invest in REP, BTC, ETH & MAID because I and they have clarity which industry they are going to have a monopoly in & are 100% focused on dominating.
Ethereum is currently 60x bigger than BTS, by our own admission nearly every new DAPP will probably be released on there first. While we may like to think Ethereum is Android and we are iPhone, why is Bitcoin still the dominant crypto-currency for 7 years despite it being on an 'Android' blockchain when there are better 'iPhone' blockchains? While there may be multiple DAPPs and third party business frontends on BTS, I don't think at this stage it's credible that BTS is going to dominate the DAPP market or at the very least it won't have a monopoly. So investors/speculators have to ask the question, who will be the big winner in this race, Ethereum or BTS?
However if investors, speculators can say, 'What is the Banking and Exchange Industry worth? Is there a market need for a Decentralized Bank? Who is best suited to, is focusing on & will likely dominate that area? Then suddenly you're in the mix of DACs that are going to be independently massively successful.
Most agree the potential for SmartCoins is massive, there has never been a greater time in history for them with our current financial and debt based system on the verge of collapse/major transition and we are best placed to dominate it. In fact with a yield subsidy (Self funding and fairly circular cost) and a small liquidity subsidy suddenly we'd become the market leader and clear favourite to dominate that industry virtually overnight.
I like that BTS has the potential for a a lot of third party apps to be built on top of it, some which could disintermediate existing industries in their own right. (Like Augur will disintermediate sports betting but is built on Ethereum.) However it's looking increasingly like ETH is becoming the DAPP market leader & we should at the core focus on delivering the best banking blockchain which our third party Apps and even Ethereum based Apps can inter-connect with. It's likely imo that the best Banking/SmartCoin Blockchain will become the biggest of them of all.
As you yourself said....
I'm just lost at what bitshares is and what we're focused on. I cant explain it to anyone much less get them to buy something so complex. I thought we were going to find a niche (like the decentralized exchange) and leverage and exploit that niche.... That is what successful businesses do. They don't go running after every new idea they have without completing their previous one.