It's official: Star Wars EU is no longer canon.
The EU will continue to be published under the "Star Wars Legends" line, which will mark
Star Wars material that is non-canonical. Their previous canonicity will be ignored in the upcoming movies by new owner Disney.
So... Does that make them licensed fan-fiction? Why or why not?
I never considered EU part of the tv/movie canon universe in the first place, so I'm not sure why people would be upset. I mean, the Star Wars: Clone Wars TV series already have changed the canon (and made their own canon, what with adding Skywalker's padawan, Captain Rex, etc).
I consider it licensed fiction that cashes in the movies, and to give fans something to fill in whenever there's a lack of anything Star Wars in the media.
Even if the EU was approved, it seems to me that the creator and TV/movie people don't seem to care (or aren't allowed to acknowledge?) about the EU, so I never considered the EU as part of the Star Wars canon--at least, the movie/tv media version. I consider EU its own canon and maybe even "fanon". If any of the EU is included in the TV/movie universe, then I would consider whatever parts were included as part of the movie/tv-verse canon.
And if Star Wars is rebooted, then as long as the original trilogy is somewhat acknowledged, I would embrace it as its own canon.
I wonder if my way of thinking is because I'm used to other series being rebooted a thousand times (ex: many DC and Marvel comics; Transformers; G.I. Joe; etc).
Add me to the list of people who feel that I "own" my own characters (unless I give those rights away, for whatever reason).
I have always been a fanfic reader (and even have written one or two), and I don't mind different interpretations. However, I would not consider the fans "owning" the characters/world/universe. It's the creator's (or creators') only, in my opinion.
EDIT: The only reason I would feel animosity is if fans didn't respect the creator(s). (For example, they wrote fanfics or drew fanart, even when the creator(s) forbids fanworks. Also, I sometimes feel a bit awkward about people selling fanart, even with having my sister, who draws and sells some really great fanart, lol. I buy fanart, too, because that's a lot of what's selling at convention and to support artists, but I still feel weird about it, heh.)