From reading I get the impression that this 0.4 will sorta be the start of an alpha like complete game rather than just developmental stuff with major basic stuff not added yet. But all the dates on the other main site are months ago, whats the news? I'm probably just being an idiot and missing some obvious page with current news.
I really think this has more potential in the long run than Minecraft.
I ended up here mostly because Minecraft, has kinda disappointed me in both its wonderful choice of Java (cost me one video card so far) and the fact that after all this time it lacks character and somehow the game still seems to be missing a game. The addition of stuff like "the end" is kinda a half assed attempt at fixing that.
As a counter example I would offer up Terraria, a one man show that I feel had the perfect balance of sandbox and adventure game, with a crap load more interesting items and equipment (and everything for that matter). I still play Terraria but we were basically abandoned when the creator got bored one day, and I rather miss the 3D environment for full sandbox creativity.
I saw a thread on whether or not Minetest should keep following Minecraft feature and style wise so here is my opinion:
If Minetest stopped following Minecraft and perhaps went for more of a 3D Terraria style game I think it would very quickly pass up Minecraft.
And on another note why in the hell is "Minetest" considered an error by the spell checker in the Minetest forum? :)