Well it's still the standard for the non-gaming 3D industry, it's a necessity if you're doing non-windows stuff, and with OpenGL 2.0 only just out the door and DirectX 10 still a year or two away I don't think it's going anywhere.
The thing about OpenGL is that it has an extension mechanism that means you can use whatever features the graphics card manufacturer chooses to include. So you get access to the new features right away, but it takes a while for them to become "standard" and even longer for them to become "core". But to say that OpenGL doesn't get new features straight away is just plain wrong - often the extensions are available for OpenGL before they reach the DirectX core.
The thing about OpenGL is that it has an extension mechanism that means you can use whatever features the graphics card manufacturer chooses to include. So you get access to the new features right away, but it takes a while for them to become "standard" and even longer for them to become "core". But to say that OpenGL doesn't get new features straight away is just plain wrong - often the extensions are available for OpenGL before they reach the DirectX core.