If D7 were anywhere close to being bug free, I'd agree with you. Currently, there are 69 tickets... not 17. Many are closed, marked as 'fixed', but as we all know by now, maybe they're fixed.... maybe they're not. You'll have to wait for the next build to find out.

These 69 tickets were entered at a time when a lot of people didn't even bother to install beta 8 after reading the initial reports from those that did. I really find it hard to grasp, how anyone can call the next build a Release see more Candidate.

Sure, Boonex has stated that there will be upgrades starting at the RC stage, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a flawless process from RC1 through RC12. There's a very good chance that providing upgrades between RCs will slow the overall development. If some people decide to use an RC on a live site, and "upgrades" have problems, and screw up their sites, they'll be demanding that Boonex fix the upgrade. Of course, if everything goes perfectly, there will be no problems, but when's the last time you saw that happen around here?

One thing is almost certain... there is no way a new RC will be out as often as the Betas. Bugs have to be fixed, then the upgrade script has to possibly be modified and debugged. Not only will people be reporting installation, and functional bugs, we'll now have new upgrade bugs. I think we'll be real lucky if we see a new RC every 2-3 weeks.

The new phpIDS module integration affects the entire D7 site, and it's operational readiness has barely been tested. You can call it whatever you want to, but the next build is just another beta. There's no way its a Release Candidate.