Agreed from a time management and protecting proprietary information perspective. On the other hand, it would be nice to load articles onto the device without using a computer as an intermediary. Perhaps a dedicated application would help out there, but I don't know how much cooperation you'd get from the publishers. A web browser would also be handy for reading locally stored documentation and reference materials, much of which isn't appropriate for the linear nature of ePub and PDF.

I'd also like to add loadable dictionaries. Standard dictionaries are just about useless for the jargon found in science and engineering.

Now that my mind has shifted away from articles and towards reference materials, it would also be nice to copy snippets directly to a computer's clipboard (either via Wi-Fi or bluetooth). If you're out of reach of your computer, it would be cued up and sent when you are nearby.