Ground based telescopes have not begun to do all that is possible. They are just waiting for the technology to advance to the point where possible becomes practical. Developments in adaptive optics are happening, Interferometry, extending Adaptive optics to shorter wavelengths, developing segmented mirrors, laser guide stars, new instruments... It is all happenning at once...

This is not implying that there is not a an equally important role for space based observatories... The Sptzer space telescope is capable of observations that no Earth bound telescope is ever going to be able to do.

I believe that this decade and the next will be viewed as a revolutionary time in ground based astronomy... I think an ELT, Extremely Large Telescope, will be started before an OWL, Over Whelmingly Large telescope... but they will keep getting bigger... my guess is that there will be, eventually, a FHT project- umm, I wont elaborate on what FHT stands for- you can guess... ;)

There has never been a time where so much about the universe has been learned so quickly- and I would wager that the next generation will be able to say the same...