The feature mimics the functionality found in the Windows Taskbar, where application windows get minimised into the application icon, as opposed to OS X (Leopard) where minimised windows occupy space on the right hand side of the dock.
Well, in Snow Leopard, there's a new preference in the Dock settings in System Preferences:

When that box is ticked any window you minimise actually disappears behind the application icon, like this:

A couple of other changes in Snow Leopard that he noticed;
Google Maps integration into the date/time control panel:

and a new security preference for a time delay when entering a password after sleep: