A lot of creative work is messy. I hope that the next generation of end-user software provides some structure within which users can make a mess and then clean up. For instance, it would be nice for a graphic designer to be able to send a client a bundle of graphics and text with three alternative layouts that the client could view at the click of a button. One statue, many faces. The most familiar face that people add to their document is the executive summary, but there can be many others.
Different people come in at different levels looking for different things.
I know Microsoft is obsessed with the visual look of documents, but I don't see evidence that they're concerned about what's being looked at. To sum up what I feel is missing from productivity software, I see a document as an evolving, multi-faceted work. It has lots of contributors, it can be approached with a variety of senses, it has a history, and it is viewed by different people with a variety of goals in mind. Real-time collaboration, perceptual interfaces, version control, and flexible display should be mainstream. It's commonplace nowadays to point to the Internet's promise of instant access as the driving force behind the need for flexibility in modern work.