Well, to fuel the optimism, BitShares Munich is working on the Echo wallet, Moonstone wallet is in beta testing, and finally - an open, global frictionless exchange might win out in the end, even if local/proprietary solutions win out in the beginning. I also think there will inevitably be synergies between the Steem and BitShares projects, as one has what the other doesn't, and yet many of the token-holders overlap. But yes, it's currently an uphill battle, and might be for quite some time yet.