The InfluxDB team has made significant progress on version 0.9.0, but it's still not ready for release. The main items left to finish are data node shard handling, replacing a downed node, and write back-pressure if data nodes are falling behind on replication. To address these, the team is adding features like selecting tag names in the GROUP BY clause, which was previously counter-intuitive. Despite delays, the team is committed to delivering high-quality software and aims to complete the release by May 31st. The current RCs are not yet true release candidates, but the next one will be once key features are done and show-stopper bugs are fixed. The community's contributions and testing have been invaluable in helping the team move forward. An update on progress will be posted every two weeks until the release.