This article talks about some of the upcoming features planned for Longhorn. Even though Longhorn is quite a way off, theres some cool sounding stuff planned. I'm not sure what to think about their plans for a new filesystem, but if they decide to add some actual security at some point then I guess "WinFS" could be a good thing.
..the idea of giving laptops the ability to turn on quickly is something customers want and a quality that is arguably better delivered today by the rival Linux operating system.
I'll have to take their word on the fact that this is easier to do with Linux, as it's possible that it's only the case with 34983498 out of 9872373 distributions (or whatever), but it's definately something which a lot of people would like on their laptops. My Toshiba always had problems with resuming from hibernation, and I never liked to leave it in that state - there was just something about it which made me uneasy, and I'd much prefer a more streamlined startup-sequence (heh).
Along the same lines, Microsoft also wants to allow hardware makers to include smaller displays on the outside of a laptop that could let a customer see calendar information, battery status and network status without opening the lid
That, combined with the ability to play cd's / dvd's without the need to boot up the full laptop would be very handy thank you very much. Of course it does mean we'll all need to buy new laptops certified for use with Longhorn, but lets be realistic - this is going to be the case anyway.
It also talks about some changes to security, adding a "Security Center" to Windows XP, planned in SP2 - sounds like one of those things which could be quite handy, or utterly awful, depending on how they decide to code it. Anyhow, Longhorn sounds like it could be well worth waiting and upgrading for.