Interesting read.
Everybody already expected a new look, now it's confirmed. But it will still take a long time before 9 hits public. Skinners might want to specify the build number in their <Compatibility> tags for 9.0, like
Vistafy did. Specifying the build number will avoid problems when the new WLM9 look hits public.
Unified header sounds interesting, but don't think i will like it. I don't use much other Live services than Messenger and i don't like being forced to. Too bad they can't talk about the other Messenger features.