Johnnymack

End of the Line for Apple's FireWire

What they did was give the MacBook some of the "goodies" that were previously only found in the "Pro" series of MAcBooks, like a metal case, LED backlit displays, and backlit keyboards, and took away Firewire so you need to step up to a "Pro" to get it.
Most complaints are from people , who were actually "Pros" (using it for a business purpose) but using regular macbooks, getting their work done, and saving money.
From Apple's view, that's "canabalizing" of their higher end notebook computers. I actually use my plain macbook for my business, and get along fine. I only use the FW for external drives, but most that I have also have a ISB2 connector.
I would likely still get the improved macbook, and get one of those wireless "vaults" Apple sell, for external disk storage.
I would guess most of the FW ports on macbooks went unused.
But no, Firewire is far from dead.