Which blog & tools are best for SEO purposes?

I've started to wonder whats the best blog software or setup to use if the goal is seo. I thought about this when I read Adam's (who makes to-do lists) colum this morning:

Start a blog and sign up for Feedburner.Put up a blog at www.yoursite.com/blog. It doesn't matter if you use WordPress, Blogger, or whatever blog platform you prefer, just make sure you host it on your site. Make a few posts about your site, what people can expect when it launches, and why your site will be unique. After your first post, sign up for a Feedburner account. Under 'Publicize' in your account make sure to sign up for 'Ping Shot'. This will notify blogging directories of your posts which hopefully will result in a few links to your site.

• Is it the blog software that matters such as blogger, wordpress, iblogs etc?
• Is it better or worse to host it on your own domain for SEO purposes?
• How good is the built-in ping from the software?
• Does manually using pingomatic help?
• Are blog communities a help or hindrance? (such as www.homeschoolblogger.com/EdMouse)
• What is this feedburner?