The problems with new and old accounts is the 'personal information', according to some. I had a similar problem when accounts were hacked at NCSoft. They wanted personal information like game s/n and CC#s from 6+ years ago to reactivate hacked accounts, and I didn't have that. Devs are having trouble unlocking old accounts because they can't find this kind of info after 5 years.
But this is good, devs are going through this process so we don't have to, hopefully. My biggest burn with the situation is that my PS3 died during the outtage, so my digital downloads, DLC, and cloud saves are unavailable to me until it's back up. I know I'll have to use email confirmation to get my account back up as well, which I'm okay with.
I'd expect parts of the PSN to be back up within a week, with the rest being up by their deadline of May 31. It's funny, because by the time it's back up, I'll have LA Noire and Witcher 2; I won't be too worried about online gaming for a while anyway. Still, it'll be good to have the ability to play YDKJ or LBP2 online with friends again.