The 17-35 f2.8 Nikkor has always been an example of Nikon's fine engineering.
It's sharp, shoots a very wide 17mm and now can shine on the DX D3 sensor shown here.

But...

The Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 has raised the wide angle world standard.

Shown here, on a three hour out of the box Nikon D3 (yes, I'm still shopping) is the 14mm view with a superimposed 17mm shot from the two lenses.

I laid the 17mm shot over the 14mm shot and used PS free-transform to cooincide them and outer stroked the 17mm shot with red.

Yes I own the 17-35.
No, I left the 14-24 at Ritz on the shelf, sadly.

My summary:
The 14-24 is an awesome lens and a monster.
It's expensive, huge, has an obscenely large front element that is impossible to protect with a filter. I suspect the quality of it's a\images will make us all drool with envy and admiration.