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Following Step (APG) says you can use it when you would use Step Up. which only triggers when an adjacent opponent takes a 5 ft step.
so:
If they take a move action, you do not get to use Step Up, and thus Following Step can't be used.
Only If they take a five-ft step, you get to move 10 ft instead of just 5 ft. nothing in the rules one way or another says this movement is protected from attacks of opportunity, but its free movement that doesn't count against your normal movement.
Step Up and Strike sounds great, it uses up an attack of opportunity. but then later says it does not use up any of your normal actions from the round. which would include attacks of opportunity... so its just free attacks?
Benefit: When using the Step Up feat to follow an adjacent foe, you may move up to 10 feet. You may still take a 5-foot step during your next turn, and any movement you make using this feat does not subtract any distance from your movement during your next turn.
So following step very much does something.
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The way its written, yeah you can still only use following step when the opponent takes a 5 foot step. As Umbranus pointed out, using step up makes you lose 5 feet of movement on your following turn, following step removes that penalty. The feat is not meant to allow you to follow someone who withdraws. Moving 10 feet would still provoke as normal. However consider that the feat is generally taken as an anti caster/ranged ability, where they often will not have a weapon to take the ao with. Combine this with stand still and you become very difficult to get away from.