We've already talked about how opening up the CSS language to extensibility is a good thing. But think for a moment about the fantastic third-party opportunity that would be available. Although Microsoft's current implementation doesn't allow for downloading and installing filters, it's a logical next step, especially when you notice that their currently shipping filters are simply ActiveX controls.
If there were a common interface for creating new filters, we could expect to see the same sort of convergence of third-party development that has happened with extensible applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and yes, even Web browsers.
But there's an even more compelling reason to adopt filters: the end of GIF text. Designers frustrated with primitive typographic control on the Web have resorted to encoding their text in graphics. On the Web, pages striving for a unique visual identity almost always demand that users download headlines that are created in a graphics app, then rendered on the page. The price, of course, is bandwidth and degradability. Image-based headlines take time to download and, frankly, no longer exist as text. Think about it: The most important words on your page, the ones you want to stand out, don't show up in search engines, can't be processed by indexers, and aren't even seen if users are surfing with images turned off.
Add a visual effect to a piece of HTML text with CSS filters, however, and you get the best of both worlds. The text is still text (and maintains all the benefits thereof), and your page gets the atmosphere and personality you demand. Cool.
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