If they've got any sound business sense (by which I mean if it were me in charge

) then they'll wait to see what vBulletin's blog product has and then tweak their own to offer an alternative to cater for what vBulletin's blog doesn't deliver. Personally I wouldn't have done any further work beyond the very basics until I'd seen what I was up against. Then I'd pick it up again and deliver the goods. Granted it would arrive much later, but nevertheless everybody wins.
I'm watching this project with renewed interest, since what I've seen from the official project has been, IMO, grossly disappointing so far. It couldn't be any more bog-standard if it tried.