Well, I am not an Airbus lover either, but it sure did seem to want to fly. It could very well fly along the same priciples as a helicopter - it is so UGLY that the Earth repells it.
As I said in my post on this subject, it looks like a jet-powered Breguet 763 Deux-Ponts! Tres FUGLY!
Never looked it up - what is the base unit cost on these whales? Would it be cheaper for an airline to buy 2 B777's in lieu of one A380?
If it ain't Beoing, I ain't going, at least happily anyway!
When TAA and Airbus coined the phrase years ago for the A300, "Vive la differance", I wonder how profoundly prophetic they thought it may be?