It's not hard to give rough estimates for a project's time frame. I work in software and something like, "We expect feature A to be complete by date X" is not unreasonable and is pretty standard. If you reach date X and feature A is not complete, then give a reasonable explanation as to why feature A is not finished, something like, "we ran into difficulties implementing feature A because of reasons B, C, and D."
This "we don't do deadlines" thing is a little ridiculous. Set reasonable time frames and, if they aren't met, give explanations as to why they couldn't be met.
I think that you not doing R&D as part of your "work in software". It is VERY HARD, near impossible to give an estimate for something that was never done before and truly innovative as you almost never can take in consideration all bumps/changes/redesigns/bugs you will meet on the way to solution. So deadlines, that you don't know if you can meet them, are irrelevant at first place. And about "reasonable explanations", how do feel about... "guys, it took me more time to solve something I thought it will take me less time" * 10? good enough for you?
And you can add to this the fact, that there is no development structure as in regular place of work in this kind of projects, with fixed (more or less) work hours, as far as I know no one pays Borzalom so I guess he keeps also day job...
Don't you think that his day job can influence his availability and change his "project time" depending on work stress? How he should give estimate for something without even knowing how much time he will be able to spend on project?
It is very easy to demand and be negative while comparing bananas with apples. I suggest next time just think about possible explanations before.
I do hope, and this is according to CCR update from few days before, that we are progressing in development and this is positive thing. As long as final result will be working product, for me it worth waiting. If someone feels different and think that this is "bad" project, he always can sell his XBY and leave it.