Ask HN: Is monero good crypto?

How much am I kicking myself for not having any bitcoin? I mean, last week I had out all my old IDE drives, scanning for wallet.dat. I know I had coins from the faucet, now they are literally worth millions, but gone. How many coins are just lost? The feeling is so hard to shake. Especially as I wrote significant code for managing bitcoin, the first micropayment channel, HD wallet implementation, etc. So to not have significant holdings is truly embarrassing. I doubt very much you get a second shot at these sort of things, but it's always amazing to realize, how late in the game, you might still be early. Bitcoin is oh so tiny. People forget that Bitcoin is not just a currency, it's a protocol. And the protocol absolutely matters. Bitcoin some day soon will be legacy and a new protocol will emerge. This is as true today is it will be always for the next one. Is there faith monero is solid? I haven't dug into the crypto at all. I don't hear people screaming against it if that's worth anything. Has anyone done a side-by-side with Bitcoin? Sorry if these questions are too basic!