Long term vision of competitors using our tech

I like to think that I have a solid long term vision and that I understand what leads to success. But some leaders in the space seem to see things in a light that few really grasp, including myself to be honest.

The position of Gavin Wood saying that JAM is a protocol and therefore can (should?!) be implemented by anyone strongly reminds me of the position of @zooko that is encouraging people to adopt Zcash tech in any way, shape or form, while not pushing their own financial interests (Polkadot & Zcash, respectively).

Taking the example relevant for us, Zcash, my understanding of @zooko’s thinking is that, ultimately, competitors adopting any Zcash tech, will benefit the Zcash ecosystem.

While I don’t fully understand the rationale, and would be curious to read more about it, we can all see the success of Bitcoin is proof of that. So many newer networks are doing so many things better, fancier, yet here Bitcoin remains, almighty.

I would be curious to read the thoughts of the community of this matter. In a way it feels scary that Monero could implement the same tech as ours. Would it potentially make the Zcash network useless? Or could it be long term positive?