Well, just read the comments to John's post on his blog.
Adobe has (recent Photoshop World) and does refer to CS4 (search of CS4 gets 5 hits on Adobe Labs)
Oct 1, given their public statements on release cycles "18 to 24 month" is not an unreasonable expectation. I think that John was upset about the possible attribution of a release date to him.
Finally John doesn't seem to totally discount the technology discussed, apparently there was a semi public presentation - which is what is actually a bit interesting.