In response to some of the original questions...
There are a couple of things that might help with autofocus. Although, in my opinion, Olympus is a little behind in that regard.
It is possible to improve autofocus, particularly in low light, by using an Olympus flash in the hotshoe. You can set the flash so it will not fire, but the flash focus lights will still light up and help with autofocus. Of course, for your style of shooting that might be a little distracing. I have not tried it myself, but it is supposed to help. I am failry certain it works with the FL-50, and probably the FL-40.
The extra battery pack is supposed to help with autofocus too, and there are probably some inexpensive ones on ebay right now.
None of which helps with the sze of the viewfinder or the high iso capability. There may be an E-3 this fall and there may not. If there is it will probably be expensive, and the viewfinder will probably not be any larger. There are a lot of rumours going around that Olympus will release an intermediate range and a high end range, like they have with their lenses, but they are just rumours. Time will tell I suppose.
Personally I have been thinking about switching to Nikon. I like the smaller format, mostly I like doing telephoto pictures, so it is a pretty good fit for me. I am somewhat frustrated by the lack of an affordable telephoto longer than 200 mm, or a long macro lens though. I know Sigma..., but that announcement was months ago, and no release dates have been announced yet.
I just bought a 50-500, and a 1.4 convertor though. I figure if Olympus does drop the ball, Panasonic could still pick it up an run with it. If not, my investment is still pretty low.