Etch: release date lost in the future?

ThunderHammer writes: "January and February are long gone with always more than 100 release critical bugs. Only in the last few weeks an energic drop can be seen and brings a little more hope (at the moment is anywhere near 70 bugs). Long development cycle often involve (long) delays and is, in general, a good paradigm for stability, testing and reliability but doesnt look like an unprofessional "when it's done" approach? Do fixed deadlines make sense in cases like this?"