1. removing the ads is against the terms and conditions of windows live messenger so patchou will not implement this
2. imitate feature is already done by many scripts, search the
script database for these
3. i dont know about groups in wlm 9.0 but in 8.0, 8.1 and 8.5 there was no way for plus to work with groups so this may not be able to be done
4. the grouping of messages is a feature in 8.5 and as i have not used 9.0 i do not know if it is still a feature... in 8.5 if you go: options > messages > check "Group sequential messages from each contact together"
5. this could be done i think if patchou re-adds his nickname stuff from previous versions, this was going to happen but i dont know if he has gotten around to it (reason for it not already being in is that he was waiting for the wlm team to update theirs, which they havent as of yet... for 8.5 and i dont know about 9.0)
i hope this helps you with what you were after...
edit: bah damn you thermal ]=