WordPress Question: Do you still need a Ping Optimizer Plug-in in WP 2.7?

[wordwizard]

Hello Fellow Warriors,

I was wondering if WordPress has finally fixed the pinging issue (i.e., that it pings
the ping services whenever I make edits on the page and not just when I post a
new article) or whether I still need the Ping Optimizer plug-in?

And if so, if MaxBlog's tool is the best one or if there's an official WordPress Plug-in
that takes care of it.

What do you all do?

Thanks so much.

Elisabeth