Well they're not the only ones trying towards this. See what we're doing at Mimesys by using depth cams to stream people in 3D in the world. See the vision we have for Skype in AR in a few years : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37DVcPHGNY
I agree with you that the importance of physical space is something we realize more and more every day building Mimesys ; that would where VR could lead to new representations of information (see for instance Bret Victor's insights on the topic : https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F115...)
There will be ways to collaborate and share information, even remotely, that will go far beyond the casual whiteboard
We have just published the first footage of a surgical operation made specifically for the Oculus Rift : this is one of the many examples of what the Oculus Rift could bring to medecine by democratizing Virtual Reality.