Well, if it is technically possible, I like the idea. Personally, I have display pictures hidden, since they rarely change, and they waste a heap of space underneth them that could be better used to show text when they are visible.
It would be nice if they could be shown in some form (small preferably), while still being as compact as possible. Perhaps loose the hide Display Picture buttons (make them clickable so that they can be hidden that way perhaps?).
So something like
_____
| DP | Persons Name
|____| Personal Message?
And stick the users status in the corner of the DP perhaps.
And of course, keep the Tab Strip open at all times, instead of when there are 2 or more chats going on.
As for the loosing your Display Pictures.. well, personally I never saw the point in them being there anyway, its shown in the Contact List, so your going to know what it is and don't need to be told every your chatting to a contact what your DP is.. but thats just my opinion.
