I saw a post that was closed several months ago about NuCaptcha. I haven't heard of it until I had to register an account on another website. It looks like a wonderful alternative to Google's Captcha. I would really like to see this captcha alternative available in GF.
As you already know, user abandonment cost us money and the Google's ReCaptcha in place is difficult for users of all different age groups to get right the first time.
A thread from Google's forum, from some time ago, with users suggesting how difficult it is to use: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/-YyaqHcjUE8
Some awareness, from some time ago, of Google's ReCatpcha algorithm being reversed engineered: http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Blogs/2919.aspx
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience using nucaptcha and would hope to see it as a captcha option bundled in GF.