It was taking time away from the actual programming. So it is a good move in that respect.
However it was also good to have the developers available to explain what was going on and it did reduce the amount of FUD in the community.
I can also understand why some people have been feeling betrayed. If this OS was going to take 4 years to create, Hyperion and Amino should have made that clear at the outset. If you tell someone every month for 4 years that something will be finished "real soon now", of course they will become cynical.
Of course that's not the Frieden's fault, apparently they are pretty much the only coders making OS4? I think Hyperion should have assigned more coders to this project and it would likely be finished; as it is the entire burden falls on their shoulders.
Obviously they are both excellent programmers, but there is a limit to the rate at which software can be programmed. Maybe those useless bludging fools at Amino, especially Gary Peake and Ray Akey, could have been put on the project rather than set loose to annoy the community and rant and moan. Oops, I forgot they are lamers :-) better not let them then :-)
I would have thought the Friedens would have finished coding by now and would have more time, not less, to peruse the forums? Or am I to infer that the coding of OS4 is still underway? which with testing, duplication, etc. would mean at least six more months of waiting?
All hail the Friedens, they really are OS4 heroes...