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To be honest, I don't see Star Wars being harmed overly by this news. For one thing, Star Wars lost any "purity" it had with the prequel movies and reams of mediocre tie ins and merchandise. As I see it, these new movies will either reinvigorate the franchise (let's face it, taking Lucas out of the director's chair can only be a good thing), or finally kill it, and hopefully leave room for something else to take it's place(Gundam anyone?).
As for the details of the film itself... I find it interesting. They've said they want to continue the stories of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, but the practical difficulties are considerable. All 3 are quite old, and Harrison Ford in particular is a very high profile actor. All 3 would likely demand big price tags, and we can't even be sure they'd be up for making such films. I'd say the script would need to be mighty good to get them on board. Due to the age of the actors, it would have to take place when they're all quite old, which may make for an interesting story.
They've also stated they're not adapting any of the novels, I'd say that's probably a wise move, as most of the fandom has never read any of them. They may as well start with something new, specifically written for film.
Of course, how do you continue from the resolution of Return of the Jedi? At the end of RotJ the Emperor is destroyed, as are all the Sith, and we see scenes of jubilation as the Empire is overthrown. How do you bring in a new villain then? Having the Sith, or imperial remnants, survive RotJ would cheapen the conclusion of that movie. Bringing in a new "cosmic threat" would be weird, while having the New Republic suffer a civil war would be a bit too cynical for what is otherwise a fairly idealistic franchise.
The tricky problem, is that Star Wars movies depend on having a good vs. evil conflict at their core. The ending of RotJ makes it difficult to imagine one, after all evil has already been vanquished.
There are other problems. Han and Leia end RotJ in a relationship. Watch such a relationship play out on screen will probably feel a lot more like bad Fanfic then anything else. Unless they conspire to split them up.
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