star wars - Useless cross-guard on a lightsaber?

There's a lot of discussion going around about the new lightsaber in Star Wars VII. One criticism I've heard is that the cross-guard on the lightsaber doesn't look like it's going to do anything. One function of a cross guard is to stop your opponents blade from sliding down your own and lopping off all of your fingers. As you can see in the image below, there's a little nub of an emitter at the base of the cross-guard. Wouldn't an opponents lightsaber just lop the cross-guard right off as it slid down the blade?

With that in mind, what prevented people from losing fingers in the first place? Can lightsaber blades even slide against each other? This scene from the battle between Obi-Wan and Dooku seems to suggest that they can.

enter image description here

Answer

I can see how it can be useful. If the plasma beam is split at the crystal inside the hilt, then there is a plasma beam inside the cross-guard surrounded by metal. So then the metal shroud around guard is not there to protect your fingers from the enemy's blade, but to protect your fingers from your own cross-guard blades when your hand slides up the main shaft. If the enemy's blade slides down yours into your cross-guard, it will cut through the metal, but the beam is still there inside to stop their blade.

EDIT: Via @DVK, the image below shows that the actual implementation is similar to my previous conjecture.

The crossguard blades, or quillons, are tributaries of the primary central blade

and it's clear from the image they are shrouded in metal.

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11115/111155790/4967134-0923527786-P4K2d.jpg

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