I think the version that didn't create the conflict would be the real Bitcoin, all else equal. Core would figure out what went wrong with a much lower likelihood of a competition developing over which one is the legitimate one.

Yeah, I'm not suggesting anyone who works on Bitcoin would be a Core contributor, but to get another one or two implementations with enough eyes on it to be comparable to Core would require a lot more people.

I'm not familiar with Atack. I just found his Twitter handle though. I'll give him a look.