It is nice to see this is also appearing as a top story on all the major news sites. The discovery apparently strikes a particular nerve.
The history of exoplanetary research is interesting, especially because it is less than 20 years old!
1995 - first generally accepted exoplanet detection (1989 I think was the first "maybe" detection)
2005 - first image of an exoplanet
2007 - first Earth-sized exoplanet detected in habitable zone of parent star
COROT should rapidly accelerate the detection of rocky exoplanets over the next two or three years, followed by
Kepler. Then, over the next decade technology should advanced quickly enough to return the first images of Earth-sized planets and new information about their atmospheres and surfaces.
This is exactly what I was so excited for as a little kid. During the 1980s and early 1990s when we could not even successfully return to Mars, I thought we might never learn anything more about our own solar system, let alone discover exoplanets. What a difference a few key successes and discoveries have made!