That's the beauty of this... we all do things somewhat differently and get good results. Its important for newbies to be exposed to different schools of thought and from that mixed with their own desires, develop their own style and decide which equipment suits them best.
30 years.... no, of course not. A 100% properly maintained mechanical just-about-anything should outlast any modern electronic marvel. I was not referring to how modern electronic cameras strand up to abuse versus old mechanical ones. I was talking about planned obsolescence and how camera makers want us all to upgrade every 5 minutes to gain minimal features and separate us from our hard-earned money. There is no reason why a well-cared for digital cannot physically last years..... as for whether the "next" camera is worth the price of the upgrade --- "Will it allow you to make images that were impossible before?" is the question.
You are comparing apples and oranges. Of course an FMII has no shutter lag. Its manual-focus..... if you factor in the time it takes you to focus, things change.... Yes, you can pre-focus and eliminate "all that"..... I played with a PL1 in a store when I bought the PL2 -- the AF/shutter lag difference IS astounding..... The "3" should be even better... as you said, we'll see when we get our hands on one.
Since you keep bringing up physical toughness.... although its somewhat off-topic. My 7d has been hit "in the face" by ocean spray, dropped on concrete with mounted 70-200 2.8L lens, and had rocks kicked by a running horse break the front element of a 24-105L ---- it still works just fine. I agree that a lower-end model such as a Rebel would not have stood up to this.... but you DO NOT have to go all the way to the top-of-the-line to get weather sealing and a sturdy build.
Toughness of build as it relates to underwater shooting is a totally different question (watertightness aside) -- underwater cameras -- at least mine -- don't get banged around nearly as much as their land counterparts. Sure, some careless boat crewman can drop it on the deck, but that's a pretty rare event. In actual use, we don't go around bumping into stuff underwater with our cameras, dropping the thing is a non-issue, and I've never had a parrotfish spit a chunk of rock at my front port.
Again, you are comparing apples and oranges. We all agree that ANY digital should be faster than ANY all-manual film camera. Of course you can shoot more with an S-90 than you can with a Nik 3..... I was referring to the speed of one digital versus another.... shooting active critters, you WILL miss shots with the S90/95 (any P&S really) that you will likely get with a faster camera such as a PL2, 3, or better yet (but way out of the OP's price range) a housed dSLR.
Whether I will still be shooting my PL2 10 years from now depends on two things..... 1) Will anyone release anything that will allow me to make images that CANNOT be made with the PL2 (THE question).... IDK that the PL3 is that camera (doubt it)...... and 2) whether my future budget allows me to house one of my dSLRs. I already know that I can produce images with my 7D that would be difficult with a PL-anything.
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Regretfully, the FinePix fell out of my back pocket while sitting on the back of a "Booze Cruise" trolley in St. Kitts in 2009, and it dropped about 6' to the pavement. 1 corner was nicked, and I had to chase down the batteries that popped out, but that puppy has been working reasonable well until the last couple of months. The screen freezes up occasionally, and sometimes it just plain refuses to take pictures, so it is time. My intention is to combine replacing that camera with the latest greatest, and the new camera will also serve as my underwater camera.
