My expectations are not dashed...Im fluent in pre-release Devspeak...allow me to quote myself :
Id settle in for the long haul, tide yourself over with Dark Avatar, SupCom, the C&C3 demo thats due out next week, EU3 or whatever. I know the unmistakable sounds of backpeddling when I hear them, and now I wouldnt expect the beta to start until sometime in March (if then).
This is a good thing...its more time to play all the great Strategy games I currently have that I dont have time to play before getting distracted. By the time Im done with those, Sins beta will probably have been going on for a month, and there wont be any waiting period.