On a manual camera some sort of SLR or rangefinder system is practically essential: without it you have scale focus, or guesswork, which takes a lot of practice to use successfully (I ruined about 50 pictures when I first got my scale-focus Minox for lack of practice. Now I get it right just about all the time =) )
I do agree that there is not much point shelling out for an SLR if you're going to stick it in Auto mode and work from there.
Editing software is a corruption of the art :P
More important is the fact that SLRs have interchangeable lenses, which allows for a vast amount of effects and compositions to be achieved. That said, digital bridge cameras today have such insane focal ranges that they practically roll all that versatility into one electronic package (boring).
I and many other photographers have made some excellent shots with scale focus cameras and digital point and shoots.
More importantly, SLRs are just another opportunity for big boys to buy bigger, more expensive toys...and more of them!
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