If the beta isnt released soon there wont be time to get it right before the December deadline. I really hope Jaxel isnt planning on releasing an early beta on December 31st.
I'm one of the investors who has supported him and believed in him but even I was expecting a beta by July. The whole idea of giving him the $5k was for him to free up time to work on XP2 like a paid job which it is.
Like I said, I can almost guarantee it won't happen. At least not until XenForo 2.0 is out.. You should definately check out WidgetFramework. It's great, you can make a portal that is much better than anything you'll get with XenPorta. Not to mention you won't have to make sidebar blocks twice for your portal and normal sidebar.
I don't care the sidebar, the only thing I need is a category system and XenPorta is the only one addon I know that permits it. I'm using it for 1 year and a half now and the only things I can't make with XenPorta aren't on any other addon so I don't see the point to switch ^^