Only just cottoned on to this thread.
What i would have done is be very apologetic, say that your opinion is the general groundswell of opinion, but then bring out a report on WHY it's rubbish, WHAT he and the company can do to make it better and then Step up and say you'll happily be the liasion between the development team and the company to try and guide them into what you need to work with the system instead of against it and help them to make it that way.
Turn the negative into a potential positive.