a) Now that the empeg is EOL, will the software remain in beta (like other products that had drivers/software in beta when the product went EOL or the company went Chapter 11) ?

No, work is still going on working on getting the 2.0x software ready for release. The empeg guys have said that there will be further development as they are working on the software for other OEM projects.

e) Is there some new kick-ass equivalent about to hit the market in the next few months that'll make me regret buying my second MK2 this late?

I doubt it and certainly not from Rio/SonicBlue.