Good Photos / Good Zoom

My first digital camera was a Kodak DC260. It's a great camera but it was only
1.5MP so I upgraded to a Canon s40 2 years ago. Again, it's a great camera but
fails in 2 areas:
1. The photos are often out of focus.
2. It only has a 3X zoom

I've done a lot of reading on digital cameras over the years but have never
really understood the SLR league.
a) Am I right in thinking that SLR cameras have better software / faster
autofocus technology so that the images are less likely to be blurry? I have
had some very disappointing results from my current Canon. In particular, when
shooting indoors, the camera has to use a low shutter speed. Does the larger
lens on SLR cameras alleviate this problem (by letting in more light)?

b) I regularly read www.steves-digicams.com website. Over the years, I've
noticed a few cameras (not SLRs) which claim to have over 10X zoom lenses.
These sound great until I read the technical specifications. The exposure times
are often poor and they don't seem to offer the picture quality found using
SLRs. Are they really inferior? If so, is it possible to get an SLR with such a
great zoom. I don't really know where to look for SLR lenses but my research
indicates that such a lens would cost almost as much as the camera. Is this
correct?

What should I do? I'm looking to buy a new camera in the next couple of months.
I'm very tempted by the latest SLR offerings (esp. by Pentax) but will probably
wait for the next generation of cameras next year.
Should I look for an SLR or a "super-zoom"?? I don't think that I'll need to
swap lenses (don't have any to swap at the moment!!) and probably won't take
photography to that level within the near future.

I've been trying to find this 'perfect' camera for several years now. I'd
therefore be extremely grateful for all comments and advice!!

Thanks in advance!!
Niall Bruce