Thanks! Seems indeed a lot of useful stuff was dropped. I wonder if that was based on usage analysis, or just an opinion on what the product should have.

It is a shame that API appears to be only an afterthought. Otherwise third parties could possibly offer some of the missing features.

It's definitely not an afterthought. If you're interested in beta testing the API feel free to email me at nick@37signals.com, and I'll get you hooked up.