Was curious as I'm sure are many and don't see it asked in the FAQ as to estimated stable release? How is it coming along? Will there be a charge or subscription required?

Have you noticed the Joomla.org community ("have been working hard to increase our transparency and open our discussions and decision processes") and keeping everyone aware of "estimates"
-Future Release Predictions

It is impossible to give a definite time for future releases of Joomla 1.6. Our best "guess" for the availability of future versions is early June 2010 for Beta 1 and July of 2010 for the first stable version. The ability to deliver at these times is directly proportional to the amount of volunteer help the project receives.

The OP's question was indeed timely - many of us are wondering so thanks for the response.

So that we could now plan a little for the future, could you let us in on what features it will definitely have above and beyond 1.8?

With dream mode on: Many of us are probably wondering about photo and video capabilities. I know you said in a post below that bulletins would have a comment feature (a big hooray as that will suffice for me since I'm not interested in Kunena and another component to worry about). Might there be more integration with user profiles and some of the possibilities that spring from plugins already available - such as the Gallery/Wall/Guest Book, AjaxField type stuff?

What else? I could think of a hundred things to ask for, so whatever as far as stability, any css work (I've tried but not well myself), added functionality that stays within CB... and that would all be greatly appreciated and keep people from looking outside for group software!

Thanks!