Release Early, Release Often: What Does It Really Mean?

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We're used to hearing the slogan "Release Early, Release Often!" as being a key benefit of Open Source Software. How early is "early", and how often is "often"? How can releases be managed, and what are the benefits and disadvantages of different release strategies? Different projects require different strategies, and a key contributor to which strategies work is the expectations and capabilities of both users and developers, as well as the nature of the codebase and it's maturity and accoutrements (such as documentation, revision control, and test suite).

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I've worked with Linux and OSS for about 10 years, primarily on projects of personal interest. I tend to be a bit of a dabbler, looking at whatever random projects happen to pique my interest at the time. I'm a Debian developer, and am the lead developer / release manager of a small asset tracking system called IRM. To keep food on the table, I work as a software developer and ninja sysadmin, primarily on OSS-related technologies.