A couple thoughts on the two-weapon fighting issue:
First, I'd be willing to lay a few bucks on the notion that rogues, at least, will get "attack with two weapons at once" powers. It's in keeping with both their role and their archetype, and R&C included a nice pic of two dual-wielding rogues. (That latter bit is, of course, somewhat iffy... but I refuse to give up hope for my dual-kukri rogue.

) That being said, I don't think such powers will be necessary for all dual-wielders, though they likely will be if you want to gain benefits from using two weapons of the same type.
In fact, I'm really curious to see how viable a fighter who used a different kind of weapon in each hand would be. Many fighter powers are supposed to be tied to a specific weapon group, so a fighter using a battle ax and a short sword would be able to choose from a wider variety of powers, even if she couldn't attack with both in a round. The main problem would be the loss of AC from eschewing a shield, but if there's any kind of Two-Weapon Defense feat, that could be ameliorated.
With the action economy coning under such scrutiny in 4e's development, and undergoing such changes as a result, I'm not too surprised to see that TWF had been altered as well. I'm hopeful about the new system, and dual-wielders will be some of the first characters I try to make (particularly a Grey Mouser clone

).