Hey, it's a sci-fi movie by Ridley Scott. I get the sense that this news might be smoke and mirrors because the hype/speculation is so high already, but even if not it's still likely to be a stunning film.
Perhaps I'm not that bothered because I never felt any loyalty to the 'franchise', only a great admiration for the 1979 classic. If Ridley feels that that franchise has killed the spirit of the original anyway he might well just want to revisit the genre and the universe he set in place without being shackled to any of the 'supposed' continuity of the sequels. If by stating as much now he is freeing up his creativity then so much the better.
In fact, if you read between the lines, it might well be that this was a necessary step in order to get Fox from making all sorts of continuity demands. The DNA tone that he talks about hints that maybe this is set in the same universe as the original but not the sequels, so it might be for those fans who recognise those elements, ie Alien(79) purists. Well one can hope.
Anyway, the hints are still there that there is a strong element of horror in this sc-fi, and Ridley Scott doing horror sci-fi is still the most exciting film news in years - whether a Space Jockey or alien appears or not.
Besides it was going to be difficult to put humans with aliens in a film set before Alien anyway. I definately still get the vibe that this film will tie up with Alien, but not in the predictable ways of an alien vs human plot.
If I'm wrong so be it, I've always considered Outland to be a closer sequel to Alien than Aliens anyway, so whatever Scott has to offer will be cool with me.