I just found this post from Earl detailing a fix for the hang that ecto experiences trying to pull category info from Wordpress 2.1.

Nice job Earl. The fix isn’t hairy folks, you can do it, I promise.

Earl’s post doesn’t note it, but the fix needs to be applied at line 980 in xmlrpc.php.

Update: For those who want the official word, here it is, straight from the Wordpress Trac. Note that it references line 980.

Currently playing in iTunes: rapture riders (full version) by blondie vs the doors