From the linked article:
Obviously I'm a single data-point only, but this statement does not reflect my experience.
When I'm in a meeting, I watch people's faces all the time (and not just the current speaker's) - there's an enormous amount of information there.
I know absolutely nothing about it beyond the video and what's on the website, so I may be falling prey to hype or simply not aware of limitations in other areas, but if I had to pick software that I'd choose to host a virtual meeting, it would probably look more like Croquet than
SL:
YouTube - Croquet Software Demo Movie (August 2007)
In particular, note:
in-world web-browsing (0:07)
created 2D content (0:25, 0:30)
access remote apps (1:30)
visualise data (in-world spreadsheets with 3D visualisation) (1:50)
live video avatars (3D traditional avatar, with webcam of RL speakers face overhead) (2:40)
annotate (add 2d 'post-it' notes to 3D objects) (4:18)