I think the main focus for our developers is to get a stable, bug free release out. A lot of features have been added (that should have waited for later).
Currently we are in "Frozen" state, bug squashing mode - So the first stable release can see the light. After that, the development of the second stable release will start, and Shell access as you've requested will be added.
i-MSCP will be a feature rich and probably also one of the most advanced still user friendly panels around. I've tested a lot of different panels and most of my own personal users have been most satisfied with i-MSCP and the projects it has been forked from.
If you look at the roadmap, you can see a lot of new features will be added throughout the releases:
http://trac.i-mscp.net/roadmap
Hope this answers some of your questions. Happy reading =).