I keep saying this, but it has to be caveated that only in certain conditions can compacts keep up with SLRs. With the kit lense on an SLR, the compact will have no problems keeping up. Swap it out for some better glass and some more challenging conditions (fast action, low light, etc) and the SLR will compeltely wipe the floor with the compact. For most people in most situations the compact will be fine, but in those challenging places the SLR is still miles ahead.
I totally agree, check out all my pictures and you can see that the there isnt much in it between the first ones and the latest pictures, bar the fisheye. However as above, as soon as you start going away from kit lenses and play with the manual settings, you really start to get some amazing shots