Lars, I don't think there are lapses in the FW spec. I am pretty familiar with it, and it supports isochronos modes that supply sustained bandwidth for video capture, as well as async modes that support use as a drive interface. I think the FW spec is fine and the technology is fine, it just only got half-assed support in windows. (I think the mini-firewire was totally sony and a bad design, the regular FW plug is very robust. I know the mini got into the spec, but when you open a technology to the standards process, it gets compromised.)
The really killer feature of firewire-- for me, anyway-- is that it provide sufficient power to drive *two* external 2.5" hard drives. Thus with my laptop I can hook both external drives up to it without plugging anything in.
USB (including 3, IIRC) doesn't provide much power at all, just 5V at 0.5A.
ON SSD drives after doing a bunch of research I bought an intel XM80. These go for about $300 now, and I use this as my internal laptop drive. Saw a big boost to performance from it, and I look forward to the day that I can get rid of spinning platters of rust completely.
You can get an SSD drive (intel or other) and put it in an external case for less than the G-drive. G-drive seems to make good stuff but being able to make something as good or better for less money influenced me. Right now I'm using these cases and like them:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
They have FW800 and two ports so I can daisy chain, and they also have seperate on-off switches. The transparent case hopefully will make going thru customs easy cause they can see what's inside.
The on-off switch on the drive I think is very important for external 2.5" drives-- this lets you power off the drive without moving it . I think in the past the trouble I had with 2.5" drives was due to having to pick them up (While spinning) to unplug them.
Its sad to see that Apple removed FW from the low end macbook. USB is such an inferior technology, but its cheaper to implement and so many people buy just on price and are unaware of the performance and quality differences. I don't want to sound like a snob, but I feel bad for the people I hear having trouble or not getting good performance because they didn't understand the details of the technology when they bought (and lord knows, a salesperson isn't going to accurately articulate it.) I think part of the success of Apple in recent years is the presence of stores where people can get questions answered, and the increasing awareness that you can buy a mac and know you're getting the right bits and that it will just work.
But I digress. In short- SSD great, love it. Intel seems to be way ahead in the price/performance/quality spheres, and I hope firewire isn't replaced, or if it is, that USB 3 is much better than USB 2 and capable of powering external hard drives.