The thread probably should have started with an explanation of how canon is defined in the Star Wars universe both before and after the Disney announcement. There is a good explanation of all of this that is summarized here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_canon
The really important part to understand is this:
"S-canon is Secondary canon: covering the same medium as C-canon, it is immediately superseded by anything in higher levels of canon in any place where two elements contradict each other. The non-contradicting elements are still a canon part of the Star Wars universe. This includes all C-canon material released prior to April 25, 2014, video games such as the online roleplaying game Star Wars: Galaxies, and certain elements of a few N-canon stories."
This topic has been brought up and discussed for literally decades in other forums. I personally don't see any other way that this could have been handled given just how far post-RotJ the EU had already extended the timeline. The other option was basically to set the sequels so far in the future that any continuity with the previous films would be almost completely lost. Remember, the vast bulk of their audience is only familiar with the films and hence that is where the new stories will be expected to bridge from.