But there are still two questions:

1) How long will that last? How long before new Ping swallows old Ping?

2) What is the status of the old Ping API? Is it going to open again? When? Or should those of us who have been waiting and waiting final jump ship and move on?

I believe it’s very important that Seesmic be transparent and address these. ASAP?

I was hoping this was going to mean they’d open up the Ping.fm API again but this actually probably means the end is near for Ping.fm.

Thank you for all your comments.  

Like you, we love Ping.fm, and we wanted to take it to the next level: keep the great things about it (above all the simplicity) and improve what can be improve.  We’re making sure the service is robust and reliable to ensure all your posts are properly delivered, we build apps on all platforms (web, android, iOS, WP7, and more to come) to make sure you can use the service from anywhere, and we’re building cool features (scheduling, native image posting to Facebook and Twitter, additional social networks to post to, and much more to come here as well) that we’ll continue to add over time.  
Now yes, this service will become paid in the future.  But we’re working hard to make sure it’s worth every penny. This is why we launched this beta version, to have you use it, and tell us what you think. So please, continue to provide your feedback to help us build it (feedback.seesmic.com).

Thanks a lot for being such an engaged community of users!

Thank you,

The Seesmic Team