If Bitcoin Classic wins then Gavin is going to be the "benevolent dictator" (which I think has always been his desire).
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Yeah... That's why the first thing he did after Satoshi's disappeared was to grant access to the code to 4 other devs and that's why he voluntarily stepped down as lead developer and passed the role to Wladimir in 2014. What a power-hungry maniac indeed.
I don't think he is a power-hungry maniac - but I do think that he thinks he (or his group) should be "calling the shots". If not then why support XT and now Classic which both have stated that they don't agree with the way that the Bitcoin project is being managed?
i'd much rather see more of those "groups" you keep mentioning. lets open up development. there is a mechanism in place to solve all the issues - miners will form a consensus. if anything the whole debate should illustrate that a core group in charge of development is slowing bitcoin down.