Take the 2009 Star Trek movie for instance. I liked the movie as such, but I didn't like the fact that it didn't fit with the rest of the canon star trek as it was established before. But it still wasn't a bad movie (as long as you consider it an alternate reality, and in Star Trek you actually can).
More than "you actually can" in this case. It's clearly established within the film itself that it's an alternate reality from the previously established canon. In the JJ-verse, things are clearly progressing quite differently, but it's easy to find the point of divergence.
And, like I said, it's clearly stated in the film that it's an alternate reality.
Considering that they had the old Spock coming back in time and such, I would imagine that it is a complete 'reboot' of the entire setting. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Yes and no. The original continuity goes on (the Star Trek Online MMORPG is set in the "original" universe, for instance, and most of the novel series still deals with the "original" coninuity). It rebooted the film series, yeah, but unlike, say, the
Battlestar Galactica reboot, it didn't completely ignore, rewrite, and "reimagine" the setting. It just created a new playground next to it.
I'm going to shut up and go back to my little nerd corner now....