This ridiculous 'Be ready when its ready' attitude is so juvenile and I have to fully agree with the previous poster it is a poor way to run a business - That's what SE needs to be to succeed. If the guys at Overview (cant remember the company name now?) but if they rang Vladimir and said 'When can we expect an update on the overview project?' and Vlad replied 'It will be ready when its ready!' the phone would have went dead and the $10000 dollars would have been down the drain! But that did not happen, and there would have been time frames and deadlines to work to - So again - why are we regular users given the childish 'ready when its ready' treatment??
I could not care less if it takes 2, 3 or even 4 years for the next beta - JUST KEEP US INFORMED!? SE is losing donations because of this attitude. There does not have to be a definite release, its Vlad's simulation he can do what he wants - but just say 'I hope for a release or update by October' and if October comes and Vlad says 'we need another 6 months - so I'm hoping for release in April' that's fine. Sure people will moan but IT KEEPS US INFORMED! You OWE that at least to all those who have donated their hard earned cash to your project.
It is hard to come up with a release date when making such a big program. Unexpected bugs appear, and they may take a while to fix. We are currently already quite informed about what is happening through blogs etc. If SpaceEngineer were to constantly update us on everything it would leave little room for development. While it would be nice for 0.990 to be released before early - mid 2019, if there are major bugs that appear, the date will just be delayed more, and we will just be more dissapointed. Just like JWST, even providing a estimated laucnh date doesn't help the problems that the team is encountering.