If you are looking for speed and durability (to some extent) go for the SLR. It will never fail you if you treat it right. They are fast, infinitely expandable and the image quality is unsurpassed (to some extent) but it will be heavy and it will cost a pretty penny no matter what model you get. You do get the benefit of full auto and full manual though.

If you want light weight and not as expensive at the cost of expandability and performance go for the point and shoot. They have all the novelty functions like night shot and movie mode that people really like. And they are usually all automatic with no real manual functions. The Canon G7 is kind the best of both worlds but you can't get that much expandability out of it. It is very very fast for a point and shoot though and costs about $500.

And that Sony is good for the money as well. As for SLRs anyone of them is great, you will pay more for the Nikons, Canon's are the best but their features kinda suck, and the Pentax system is wonderful but hard to find accessories for them. The Sony Alpha 100 is good and uses Minolta accessories but you will pay at least $1000 for it.

Shop around, research and keep asking questions.