Improve ICQ design?

In a recent discussion, I came across a comment by Yolenzo , where he proposed his own improvements to the design of ICQ.
I liked these improvements, and I tried to further refine these changes. The comment was zaminusovan, and minus, unfortunately, did not write the reasons. But the topic is very interesting. I am not necessarily right, not necessarily the author of the commentary. In any case, I would like to know the option that is most convenient for the user.
See more?

Original redesign

A lot of garbage, messengers are needed to send messages.

My attempt

I’ll say right away that this is not the final version of the design (as opposed to the top image), but rather a concept, a sketch of a slightly different layout of elements and other functionality. Don't wait for beauty, I'll add gloss after fitting out the layout.
')
Background. Bright white on many monitors too blinded the eyes, especially for those who are over 25 and who often use this window.
I would increase the gaps between lines and between characters, increase the font size (all together increase readability by several times), made a notification symbol on the left (even if those simple two “more” characters) or simply removed, replacing it with a flashing line.
Further, the inscription "In the network" is also superfluous - if in the mode "show only those who are online", that is, also remove.
In the example, the contact list is too small. As a rule, it is more. Therefore, I would make 2 modes — viewing “as is” by default (or better by communication frequency), and by button — temporarily switching to sorting mode by name (if you need to find a rare contact), and would automatically turn it off when you find the contact, and included when you click on the scroller. Also, when scrolling, I would include an alphabetical index to the left of the scroller.
Well, the problem of contact groups has not been solved, but this is a separate big story.
,