Disclaimer: It's been a depressing week at work, and also my beer ran out!
I love the idea but I voted "No". Now that "No" is a 52% vs 48% in my case. I love it that I can follow along and it's actually very well represented and broken out.
I do know how development works, and fully understand when something just gets pushed back by a day, then a week, then changed just a bit, then it's broken for a day, then recreated in a better way, and pushed back again, until there's either no more time, money, or it's "perfect" (that one never happens :D )
For me, this schedule being posted publicly is awesome news, because I can fully appreciate what it actually means. But for the majority of ppl, the meaning of "Release Aim Date" will translate as "it will happen on that exact date or before that, and that's a promise!"
Dates mean they not just can-be attacked by the public and media on occasion, but that now they will be under attack constantly for pushing back goal dates by a few days/weeks. It gives soemthing concrete for the haters to grab onto, and not let go until they stop posting it.
It can cause serious backlash, and this is a project that doesn't need any of that. "People" who ran out of fresh games to hate on will jump on reddit and such crapholes to boast about how the release of alpha n.n was pushed back by half an hour and so SC is a total scam, yada yada... What's more worrying is that they might start theories about who on the dev team is personally responsible for the delay, and no matter if its true or not, they will torment said person on social media, forums, or any other way they can reach. So yeah, I'm worried about this not ending up as intended.
I would have been perfectly happy if something along these lines was released but with no deadlines/goals shown. Maybe "estimates" in some cases where it was deemed safe to add. I know that there's the monthly report that shows something like this, but this clear breakdown on a much more frequent basis is much easier to read through and understand. It's reassuring to know whats happening, and what is planned to happen.
It's a small secondary worry of mine, but it feels to me a little like a desperate attempt to calm the waters that are churning with no SQ42 shown anywhere during the Cons, and 2.6 still rather farther away then expected.
TLDR.: I love it, but I don't believe in the kindness or intelligence of humanity enough to warrant putting a huge target on their backs. This could end badly both for the devs as ppl, and for the game as a whole.
(and for me, myself, and meeeeee!!!! as well. I want the best damn space sim g'dammit! :D )
