Hi Frank,
We're still working towards the Beta release. We plan to do
0.9.0.5 release at the end of this week which will include some of the recovery logic. In particular, you will be able to shutdown/kill a RangeServer and start it up again and it will recover its previous state, putting the cluster back into a consistent and usable state.
We're hoping to be closing in on an official beta approximately one month after that. That's about the best answer I can give right now.
BTW, we're always looking for help. If you or anyone has any interest in pitching into the development effort here, please let us know.
- Doug