I hope no one minds, but I'd like to chime in with my two cents here.
I am not sure of the general ages of all those that have posted within the group to this point, but maybe what I am about to say is due to only being 24 years old, or maybe because I've never really had a definitive outlook on a great many things, you know, like this is how it is and nothing more, and anything else is just wasteful. Maybe I'm a dreamer, but that's all something for another topic.
Personally, and I've said this before, another prequel is not a bad idea, and never has been. The only reason Enterprise ended up dying in flames was because the infamous duo of B&B did their best to purposely kill off Trek after a while. For whatever reason that was, maybe so they could do their own projects without having to contend with one of the longest running Sci-Fi genres ever (my personal theory), only B&B know the truth.
Again, a prequel isn't a bad idea. Yes, I do agree, maybe going the route of Kirk and Spock's early years may not be the best thing, since most, if not the entire, Trek community wouldn't be able to swallow the idea of seeing two young kids on screen dawning the names of James T. Kirk and Spock. It would be the equivalent of religious heresy, but then again, if done correctly, right from the start, it is doable. I mean, they kinda did it once in Star Trek 5, when Sybok was showing Spock his birth, and a young guy dawned the role of Sarek just for that one scene. I know, one scene doesn't compare to an entire movie, and the character of Sarek isn't as routed in Trek as Kirk and Spock, but still, it does show that something on the scale of this planned movie is possible.
Maybe most of the people who feel the way you all do know are basing their judgements on the way B&B intentionally butchered Enterprise, maybe not. If this movie is done right, if the producers and directors cast the right people for the roles, it could work. I've always felt that after Nemesis, there was much more potential for stories before the days of Picard, maybe even Kirk himself. We know alot of what happened during Kirk's first 5-year mission, we know alot of what happened after the V'Ger incident, because we've seen it. Not much has ever been really known about what happened during the days after Sulu became captain of the Excelsior and after the maiden voyage of the Enterprise B, nor do we really know much about what happened before the days of Kirk.
Again, if done right, from the very beginning, casting, producing, and script writing, it could be pulled off successfully, and could probably bring Trek back from the brink.
My two cents.
P.S.
As I said before in another thread here on D.net about the new Trek movie, 2008 is way way too far off for my personal liking. I want it by 2007. :-p