ASO acting like Microsoft?

Nobody considers Pat McQuaid an incompetant fool more than me. I can't remember ever reading any comments which praise his management style or ability, which suggests that I'm not alone.

So playing devil's advocate.... (and it's a bit of a rambling post)....

ASO are acting rather like Microsoft. Like the software giant, ASO have some killer apps which mean that they decide how it's going to be and f*ck everyone else. In this sense, you could view UCI as being in a similar position to the open-source people. The UCI, after all, is responsible for world cycling at all levels. Its mission is not profit-driven, it exists solely to encourage cycling.

I've always considered MS to be the bad guys. They've trampled over open standards for years simply because they can. Wherever they see competition they kill it, then shoot it in the head just to make sure it's dead (purely legally of course - they do this very well). Software 'fans' unite in their hatred of Microsoft.

MS are still huge, and open-source software is everywhere. Linux rules the server market (I think) and the number of Firefox downloads has recently exeeded half a billion. So both are doing well.

Difference is that the highly visible open-source people don't slag off Microsoft - rather, they focus on the positives of their own products. This is a bit like McQuaid's urging the teams to check their contracts and make sure that they don't get screwed. But in general, McQuaid, with his aggressive fighting tone, is putting himself in the position of a Bill Gates or a Steve Ballmer, and that's why it's not working for him. He should let his inner Linus Torvalds shine through, he might get better results.

As I said, a bit of a ramble...