Ok, this is going to sound like I'm nitpicking...

For the longest time, when you chose a background image in MSN Messenger, the portions where the message text appeared was faded out so that the text appeared clearly. In WLM, the chat window seems more transparent, and therefore the background image is completely visible. This causes a problem for me as I use lots of dark images as chat window backgrounds. Short of changing font colours, has anyone found a way to make the chat window more readible when using background images that make test difficult to see?

I noticed the same thing and I'm looking forward to a fix for this as well. I like having customized backgrounds for evey contact but until the transparency problem is fixed, I'm using a blank background to avoid straining my eyes.