1. Alphabetical lists in toolbars (woohoo...)
2. Don't need ArcCatalog to create new a feature class or SHP file
3. Clip map extent to an area
4. Interoperability and data sharing enhancements
5. Bring in web services and use geocoding to create apps directly in numerous languages
6. On the fly reprojection of rasters and calculate stats based on display
7. Compression techniques for working with large datasets
8. One place labels and automated placement and adjustment
9. Masking out features based on display properties
10. Less mousing thanks to new keyboard short-cuts
11. * Within the "What's new in ArcGIS 9.0" document you can drag the pause drawing icon directly onto toolbar and use

* top 10 stretched to 11 as there's simply too much to condense into 10!

Other New features of ArcGIS 9 include:

• New geoprocessing framework for modeling and scripting
• New and powerful spatial statistics tools
• Significant improvements to annotation and labeling
• Improved raster support
• ArcMap GPS Support

A number of enhancements and new ArcGIS Extensions are also now available. These include:

• ArcGIS 3D Analyst with new features like whole earth 3D visualization with the new ArcGlobe application and the ability to display true 3D symbols and models with photo textures
• Maplex for ArcGIS—New extension for providing high-quality cartographic text placement and labeling.
• ArcGIS Publisher—Includes a new programmable ArcReader control
• ArcGIS Spatial Analyst - Fully integrated into the new geoprocessing framework
• ArcPress for ArcGIS - Includes upgrade to an industry standard rasterizer
• ArcGIS Data Interoperability, a new extension for state-of-the-art direct read, transformation, and export - developed by Safe Software

John hasn't joined the priesthood, however, he is preaching to thousands  about what's cool in ArcGIS 9! ESRI's John Calkins presents his Top 10 at the ESRI user conference in San Diego, Aug., 2004.

FYI, ArcGIS 9.0 SP1 is now available for download to licensed users. The