I purchased the alpha within 3 days of release. I'm not very happy with the decision - while the game was initially fairly amusing due to bugs, as they implement more and more "features" the less entertaining it is. I will not be downloading Alpha 4, and will not be returning to the game for a while.
By large, B12 forums are largely pro indie gaming, but I think people need to step back a second and look at the larger picture. Introversion is a company which has had some commercial successes, and has been actively selling their games for the last 10+ years. I've personally purchased multiple copies of Uplink over the years, and have recommended it to dozens of people. But the way I see it is an established studio is crowdfunding their latest game, and I don't like it. Why are we doing this? Why do we heap praise upon an established studio aspiring to release a game with less polish than other competing indie games?
I think we as PC gamers are sending a strong message to developers right now.
That it is okay to sell an alpha as a product as long as the word "indie" is somewhere near your name. I don't want to be stuck in a world where all the PC games are perpetually "in development" or "in closed alpha/beta". No wonder why many big studios are shying away from PC gaming - AAA games sell for $15 6 months after they come out because of low sales, but yet everyone throws money at games which may be in paid alpha for multiple years.
As a consumer I think right now we're getting a pretty raw end of the deal. We get unfinished and buggy tech demos in lieu of finished games, big studios continue to abandon or ignore the PC market, and the overall price point gets worse and worse.