I agree with your point about constructive criticism, macky. It's very important to have that element in a Forum like this. There are some really smart, knowledgeable members here and they put forward some compelling arguments.
My point really is that we need to keep things in perspective, and we need to keep the glass half full. Once I'd posted, I was rooting around to try and find any info to point me at a more precise start date for SH4. And look what I found!
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=87428
They were advertising for programmers on 12/16/2005. So in terms of hands on programming time we're down to maybe 14 months!
The Devs should be saluted for what they've achieved with Silent Hunter 4 in 14 months. I don't have a problem with members being frustrated with the bugs...I'm frustrated with the bugs, but my admiration for this Dev team is huge.