8.5 development schedule

Now that 8.4.0 is out the door, development for 8.5devel will be opened any
day now. But we haven't discussed the development timeline so far. The core
team has several proposals:

CommitFest Alpha
Aug. 1 Sept. 1
Oct. 1 Nov. 1
Dec. 1 Jan ~~ 5
Feb. 1 March 4

Release ~ May 2010

This puts us on track for a release at the same time next year, maybe a little
earlier.

("Alpha" is a semiformal snapshot release at the end of the commitfest, for
those who haven't heard yet. Details later.)

If we want to avoid a commitfest in December, then this:

CommitFest Alpha
Sept. 1 Oct. 1
Nov. 1 Dec. 1
Jan. 1 Feb 1
March 1 April 2

Release ~ June 2010

But this has the drawback of waiting an extra month for the first commit fest,
for no particularly good reason. (Check the current list, if you are
curious.)

Or, one more commitfest:

CommitFest Alpha
Aug. 1 Sept. 1
Oct. 1 Nov. 1
Dec. 1 Jan ~~ 5
Feb. 1 March 3
April 3 May 3

Release ~ July 2010

But that gets 8.5 out even later than this year, and past PGCon.

Comments?