I can imagine that if you've never had an SLR before that it would be quite a different experience moving from a small digital P&S to a DSLR! In my case, I had used Nikon SLRs many years ago, then got hooked on digital but couldn't afford a DSLR at that time (they were prohibitively expensive back then). For the first several years only pros had DSLRs and then with Nikon the D100 kind of kicked things off for serious amateurs; the D70 really was the impetus for many enthusiasts to buy their first DSLR, whether or not they'd had a previous SLR. I don't know what the equivalent model to the D100 in Canon would be but I think that there was a parallel process going on there, too, so that Canon fans who had used Canon SLRs or those who had used one of Canon's many fine P&S were also beginning to reach for a DSLR, too. I know that the Digital Rebel was the model which really made digital photography a reality for many people, but I don't know if there were a model prior to that equivalent to Nikon's D100.
My own particular progression went from using the Nikon N90 and N90s SLRs to buying and loving my first digital camera, the Coolpix 900, then a year or two later going on to the CP 990, followed by the 995, the 4300, the 8700 and the 8800. The "swivel" models (900, 990 and 995) were my favorites and in my opinion, the best Coolpixes Nikon made....the CP 8700, while it had a form factor resembling an SLR/DSLR certainly did not have the responsiveness of a true SLR, nor did the CP 8800. My disappointment in the latter is what spurred me to one day walk into my local Penn Camera and say, "show me the D70...."
Hee, hee, I have to laugh at myself now when I remember standing there, holding this thing which felt both oddly familiar and yet strange.... It immediately reminded me of my beloved N90, but of course some things were different. I held it up, turned it on, and because of so many years using digital cameras, automatically looked at the LCD. "Uh...." The sales associate smiled and said, "there's no live preview in a DSLR; you have to use the viewfinder and then AFTER you've done the shot is when you see the image." Oh.... LOL!
Took the D70 home and immediately felt a joy in photography that I'd been missing with the 8700 and the 8800, reveled in the responsiveness of the camera and in the way it produced excellent resolution in my images....
The 8700 and the 8800 sit collecting dust now, but every now and then I do pull out my beloved CP 990 or 995, as there is something really special about those swivel bodies -- they were quick, responsive little cameras which took pretty darned good photos in spite of their small number of pixels.
Anyway, that's my journey from SLR to digital P&S to DSLR....
It's very similar to the N90s I used to shoot around with, so the learning curve has been pretty easy so far. 
