After my initial disappointment, my view on all of this is YES YES YES!
At least Ridley isnt trying to film his own Phantom Menace!
The very thought of a high quality deep space science-fiction adventure from Ridley Scott that has a loose connection to the Alien universe is PURE GOLD. I seriously doubt that the dis-connection from 'Alien' is 100% - and that is enough for me to get excited about. Nobody wants an 'Alien Explained' movie but we would all love to see that universe again. That is exactly why I feel that the recent Hollywood prequel trend is so awful. George Lucas should be congratulated for showing the world that you should never attempt to retcon hallowed ground.
I strongly suspect that Ridley has benefitted from the lessons learned from recent Hollywood disasters and is attempting to take the notion of a 'prequel' in a new and more appropriate direction. Where the so called Gods of Hollywood have previously failed, please GOD let Ridley succeed...